FBI detains five people near Verrazano Bridge in possible connection to Chelsea bombing after pipe bomb cache find in New Jersey
Authorities arrests five people on the Belt Parkway, east of the Verrazano Bridge, in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Anthony Spennato)
BY Rocco Parascandola Nicole Hensley Andy Mai Leonard Greene
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Monday, September 19, 2016, 2:32 AM
The FBI took five people with possible links to the Chelsea explosion into custody Sunday night in Brooklyn as authorities shut down a busy New Jersey rail station after finding multiple pipe bombs in a garbage can, police and New Jersey officials said.
The weekend trail of terror continued along the Belt Parkway where federal agents nabbed several people of interest with a weapons stash inside an SUV, law enforcement sources said.
The five taken into custody had come over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island. Investigators were trying to determine if the occupants of the SUV were about to drive out of town or take a plane, sources said.
Investigators also identified a person of interest in the Manhattan attack through surveillance footage, but it was unclear if he was among the five arrested.
of yours was the first of all i'd read about the Chelsea bombing which viciously and irresponsibly attributed blame to anyone. No surprise such a vicious fabrication would first arise from that group.
A Democratic senator sent a warning to Donald Trump Saturday: if Hillary Clinton is killed "the blood will be on your hands."
By Kristin Salaky Published September 17, 2016, 11:29 AM EDT
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) took to Twitter to condemn Trump's comments about disarming Clinton's bodyguards and seeing "what happens," tweeting Trump directly with his warning.
-- Chris Murphy @ChrisMurphyCT
Hey @realDonaldTrump, if you keep suggesting your supporters kill @HillaryClinton, someone will listen. The blood will be on your hands.
Murphy is not the only Democrat speaking up. Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived her own assassination attempt, released a statement on Twitter condemning the comments and calling Trump "reckless" and "irresponsible."
-- Gabrielle Giffords @GabbyGiffords
Tonight we saw yet again just how unfit @realDonalTrump is to be president. http://wapo.st/2cQzedj 1:45 PM - 17 Sep 2016 --
Trump has not spoken out publicly about the comment since the event.
The Progressive Case for Hillary Clinton Is Pretty Overwhelming Sep. 19, 2016 [...] 1. In 1995, despite strong pressure from diplomats and White House aides to remain low-key, she went to China and said, "Human rights are women's rights, and women's rights are human rights." 2. She worked her heart out for health care reform in 1993. 3. She now supports Obamacare, and supports expanding it. 4. She supports increasing the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour. This is good for workers, but less likely to have downsides than a national level of $15. 5. She supported comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 and continues to support it. 6. She was a prime mover behind the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and was a key figure in finding compromises that allowed it to pass after partisan bickering nearly sank it. 7. Sen. Sherrod Brown: "As much as we want to move this country forward, you gotta cajole, persuade, work with, whatever it takes. And I think she does that better than about anybody I know." 8. She supports LGBT rights. 9. She worked with Attorney General Janet Reno to create the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women. 10. She was one of the prime movers behind SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, eventually signed into law by Bill Clinton. 11. She pushed the Adoption and Safe Families Act through Congress. 12. She was instrumental in the founding of the Center for American Progress. 13. She has been the target of countless baseless attacks but has always rebounded and kept on working anyway. 14. President Barack Obama: "What sets Hillary apart is that through it all, she just keeps on going, and she doesn't stop caring, and she doesn't stop trying, and she never stops fighting for us—even if we haven't always appreciated it." 15. She voted against both of George Bush's tax giveaways to the rich. 16. She favors closing the carried-interest loophole. 17. Jill Abramson, who covered Bill and Hillary Clinton critically for more than two decades, first in the Washington bureau of the Wall Street Journal and later at the New York Times, says this about Hillary Clinton [ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/28/hillary-clinton-honest-transparency-jill-abramson ]: "Hillary Clinton is fundamentally honest and trustworthy…There are no instances I know of where Clinton was doing the bidding of a donor or benefactor." 18. She supports legislation to end racial profiling at all levels of government. 19. She wants to clean up the toxic lead remaining in soil, water, and paint. 20. As secretary of state, she was tireless in traveling the world to repair the damage to our reputation from the Bush years. 21. German chancellor Angela Merkel: "I admire her strategic thinking…Whenever I was able to work with Hillary Clinton, it was a great pleasure." 22. She wants to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. 23. She voted for TARP. 24. She was the principal author of the sanctions on Iran that brought them to the bargaining table. 25. She then began the secret negotiations with Iran that eventually led to the treaty stopping their work on nuclear weapons. 26. She supports Dodd-Frank. 27. At the age of 29 she co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families advocacy group. 28. She is annoyed by airline bag fees. 29. She supports a higher tax rate on the very rich. 30. She supports the Paris Climate Agreement and has endorsed a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050. 31. She wants to restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences. 32. She was one of the original co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have implemented card check. 33. She has literally spent her entire adult life advocating for children and women. 34. Sen. Barbara Boxer: "She is authentic. Hillary is Hillary, and she's not going to become a cheerleader with pom-poms." 35. She supports automatic voter registration at age 18. 36. She has a lifetime score of 94 percent from the AFL-CIO and 98 percent from AFSCME. 37. She pushed through State Department regulations that gave same-sex couples most of the same rights as straight couples. 38. She supports universal pre-K. 39. She has set a goal of producing one-third of the nation's electricity from renewable sources by 2027, three years before Obama's deadline. 40. She wants to expand home visiting programs, one of the best known ways to improve child development. 41. She wants to spend $275 billion (over five years) on rebuilding infrastructure. 42. She was instrumental in securing help for New York's 9/11 first responders. 43. In the Senate, she fought Republican attempts to privatize Social Security. 44. She spent 11 hours testifying in front of the Benghazi committee and made Republicans look like idiots. 45. She supports net neutrality. 46. She would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court. 47. She would also nominate liberal judges to the lower courts. 48. She supports a plan that allows people over 55 to buy into Medicare. 49. She co-sponsored the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. 50. She is pro-choice and supports the right of all women to have access to affordable contraception and safe and legal abortion. 51. She wants to prevent pharmaceutical companies from jacking up the price of long-standing drugs. 52. She supports the addition of a public option to Obamacare. 53. She wants to overturn Citizens United. 54. She has fought for decades for increased funding for HIV treatment and research. 55. She wants to restore the portions of the Voting Rights Act that were recently struck down by the Supreme Court. 56. She supports Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. 57. She wants to beef up antitrust enforcement. 58. She worked to ensure ratification of the New START treaty with Russia. 59. She wants to impose a tax on high-frequency trading. 60. She's a big supporter of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. 61. In the Senate, she had a very good reputation as someone who could work across the aisle to get things done. Her word was always good. 62. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on his Republican colleagues in the Senate: "Two of them, her very prominent antagonists in this election, and one looked over at the other and said, 'Boy, she's good.' The other one leaned back and said, 'Yeah, she's really good.' And that's the Hillary that they know. Not the talking points Hillary or the caricature, but the real person." 63. She wants to tighten regulation of the shadow banking system, one of the prime causes of the crash of 2008. 64. She wants to strengthen the Volcker Rule. 65. She supports DACA and DAPA, the "mini-DREAM" executive orders. 66. She supports 12 weeks of paid leave for new mothers or to recover from a serious illness. 67. As first lady, she fought for the Family Medical Leave Act. As a senator, she worked to expand FMLA to cover wounded soldiers and their families. 68. She has long supported gender equality efforts around the world. 69. She has legendary stamina and endurance. 70. Sen. Al Franken: "She is the toughest, most experienced, hardest-working person I know." 71. As secretary of state, she personally negotiated the 2012 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 72. She has a 100 percent rating from both NARAL and Planned Parenthood. 73. In the Senate, she co-sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. 74. She did not kill Vince Foster [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/05/25/no-donald-trump-theres-nothing-fishy-about-vince-fosters-suicide/ ]. 75. She did not issue [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/quote-day-robert-gates-cartoonish-views-military ] a "stand down" order [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/11/republicans-finally-admit-there-no-benghazi-scandal ] after the Benghazi attack. 76. She didn't flip-flop [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/just-how-cozy-hillary-clinton-wall-street ] on the bankruptcy bill. 77. She didn't steal [ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/tweetstorm-bernie-sanders-former-press-secretary-amazing ] the primary [ https://newrepublic.com/article/135472/no-dnc-didnt-rig-primary-favor-hillary ] from Bernie Sanders. 78. She did not mishandle classified information [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/09/14-excerpts-fbis-report-hillary-clintons-email ] or conspire to evade FOIA [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/09/hillary-clintons-personal-email-key-understanding-emailgate ] requests when she set up her email account on a private server. 79. She did not loot the White House [ http://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/the-clinton-furniture-flap/ ] when she and Bill left in 2001. 80. She had nothing to do with Filegate [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_FBI_files_controversy ]. 81. She didn't dole out any favors [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/09/sigh-yet-another-non-scandal-clinton-foundation ] to Clinton Foundation donors [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/08/hillary-clinton-ran-very-tight-ship-secretary-state ] when she was secretary of state. 82. She did nothing wrong in the Whitewater affair [ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jun/23/bill-clinton/bill-clinton-says-hillary-was-completely-exonerate/ ]. 83. She referred to "super-predators" only once [ http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/03/very-brief-history-super-predators ], and in a context that referred solely to members of drug gangs. 84. She probably overreacted to the financial misconduct in the White House travel office, but ultimately did nothing seriously wrong in the Travelgate affair [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_travel_office_controversy ]. http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/09/progressive-case-hillary-clinton-overwhelming [with comments]
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U.S., China Move Against Firm Suspected of Aiding North Korean Nuclear Program Ma Xiaohong, founder and owner of Hongxiang Industrial Development. Co., as seen in a corporate publication. Based in the northeastern Chinese border city of Dandong, Hongxiang Industrial handles cross-border trade with North Korea and has come under investigation from U.S. and Chinese authorities. Actions mark most serious effort so far to pursue Chinese companies thought to be helping Kim Jong Un’s regime September 18, 2016 The U.S. and China are targeting the finances of a sprawling Chinese conglomerate headed by a Communist Party member who the Obama administration believes has played a role in aiding North Korea’s nuclear program. The actions against the company, Hongxiang Industrial Development Co., mark the most serious effort to date to pursue Chinese firms and business executives for their suspected role in supporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s rapidly expanding nuclear-weapons program. Earlier this month, Pyongyang conducted its fifth atomic test [ http://www.wsj.com/articles/earthquake-hits-near-north-korea-nuclear-test-site-1473383426 ] in a decade. The U.S. Congress passed legislation this year requiring the White House to sanction Chinese firms conducting business with the North Korean regime. Doing so, many lawmakers, officials and experts believe, will close a crucial gap in global efforts to restrain Pyongyang. On Thursday, police in Liaoning, China’s northeastern border province, said they recently started investigating Hongxiang Industrial for alleged long-term involvement in “serious economic crimes” over the course of its trading activities. The police didn’t elaborate on the allegations. Chinese authorities in recent weeks have frozen certain assets held by the company, its founder and top executive Ma Xiaohong, and some of her relatives and associates, according to government and corporate filings. Prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice made two trips to Beijing last month to alert Chinese officials about alleged criminal activities being committed by Ms. Ma and Hongxiang Industrial, according to U.S. officials. They specifically cited alleged evidence that the Chinese businesswoman and her companies had aided North Korea’s nuclear program and Pyongyang’s efforts to evade United Nations and Western sanctions. The Justice Department is preparing as early as this week to announce legal action against Chinese firms suspected of providing financial support to Pyongyang, according to these officials. They wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the charges. [...] http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-china-move-against-firm-suspected-of-aiding-north-korean-nuclear-program-1474300834 [with comments]
U.S., China to step up cooperation on North Korea Sep 20, 2016 U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang agreed on Monday to step up cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law-enforcement channels after North Korea's fifth nuclear test, the White House said. China and the United States are also targeting the finances of Liaoning Hongxiang Industrial, a Chinese conglomerate headed by a Communist Party cadre, that the Obama administration thinks has a role in assisting North Korea's nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. U.N. diplomats say the two countries have started discussions on a possible U.N. sanctions resolution in response to the nuclear test earlier this month, but Beijing has not said directly whether it will support tougher steps against North Korea. Obama met Li on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York. "Both leaders condemned North Korea’s September 9 nuclear test and resolved to strengthen coordination in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including by invigorating cooperation in the United Nations Security Council and in law enforcement channels on North Korea," a White House statement said. [...] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-usa-china-idUSKCN11P2D0
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Trump on weekend attacks: I knew this was going to happen
Statement by the President on the Explosions in New York City and New Jersey
Lotte New York Palace Hotel New York City, New York September 19, 2016
11:23 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I want to say a few words about the explosions that occurred here in New York City and New Jersey and the other devices that have been found in New Jersey. I’ve been monitoring the situation closely and receiving frequent updates from my team. And I’ve just been briefed again by FBI Director Comey. In addition, I've had a chance to speak with Governors Cuomo and Christie, as well as Mayor de Blasio.
We’ve seen what was apparently a pipe bomb go off in New Jersey, in Seaside Park, where it could have seriously injured our U.S. Marines and spectators who were there for a race. The bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood, here in New York, injured more than two dozen people. We are extremely fortunate and grateful that nobody was killed. And our prayers go out to all those who have been injured. We want to wish them a speedy recovery.
I especially want to commend all the outstanding police and first responders in both New York City and New Jersey for their extraordinary professionalism and their quick response, which surely prevented even more people from being hurt, and ensured that people got assistance quickly.
The investigation is moving rapidly, and as is my practice, I’m going to leave it to the FBI and law enforcement to provide details. I think everybody is aware at this point that there is a person of interest who is the focus of the investigation. And the FBI can give you further details in terms of how that is proceeding.
I told Governors Cuomo and Christie and Mayor de Blasio that they and their teams will continue to have all federal support as they move ahead with their investigations, and tracking down every lead, and working to keep the people of this city and of this region safe. Law enforcement is asking for the help of the community. And so to everybody in this region, I want to repeat what we've said before: If you see something suspicious, then you need to say something -- contact local law enforcement.
In the meantime, I would ask that the press try to refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation. I am extraordinarily happy with the cooperation that's been taking place between the FBI and state and local law enforcement officials. They are moving smartly on this investigation. It does not help if false reports or incomplete information is out there. So try to, as much as possible, stick to what our investigators say, because they actually know what they're talking about.
Meanwhile, I know that the United Nations meetings here every year already create an additional workload for New York. But given the U.N. meetings, we also have a particularly high level of federal resources here to help as needed. We’re going to make sure that everybody is working together seamlessly, as one team, to get to the bottom of what happened, to find those responsible, and to make sure that justice is done.
Meanwhile, while all this is going on in New York and New Jersey, we’re also focused on the stabbing attack at the shopping mall in Minnesota. At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened here in New York and New Jersey. Our attention there is on the people who were injured. And again, we are very grateful that no one lost their life. Thanks to the quick action of a brave off-duty police officer, the suspect was killed and we avoided more people being hurt.
I had a chance also to speak with Governor Dayton this morning. I assured him that we will provide all the assistance that he needs in the investigation. The FBI is investigating the Minnesota incident as a potential act of terrorism. We will direct the full resources of the federal government to make sure that the investigation goes forward aggressively.
And finally, I want to take this opportunity to reassure the people in this city, in this region, and Americans across our country that our counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals at every level -- federal, state and local -- are working together, around the clock, to prevent attacks and to keep us safe. They are the best of the best. Over the years, they have thwarted many plots and saved many lives. And we are incredibly grateful for their service, today and every single day.
We will continue to lead the global coalition in the fight to destroy ISIL, which is instigating a lot of people over the Internet to carry out attacks. We are going to continue to go after them. We're going to take out their leaders. We're going to take out their infrastructure. They are continuing to lose ground in Iraq and in Syria. And later today, I’ll be meeting with Prime Minister Abadi of Iraq to discuss the need to sustain that momentum. As we take away more of their territory, it exposes ISIL as the failed cause that it is. And it helps to undermine their ideology, which over time will make it harder for them to recruit and inspire people to violence. And we're going to continue to enlist tech companies and community and religious leaders to push back against online extremist content and all messages of hate.
At moments like this, I think it’s important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. They are trying to hurt innocent people, but they also want to inspire fear in all of us, and disrupt the way we live, to undermine our values. And so, even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive, both in preventing senseless acts of violence but also making sure that we find those who carry out such acts and bring them to justice, we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don’t succumb to that fear. And there’s no better example of that than the people of New York and New Jersey.
When I was speaking to Governor Cuomo and Governor Christie and Mayor De Blasio, one point that they all made is, folks around here, they don’t get scared. They’re tough, they’re resilient, they go about their business every single day. And that kind of toughness and resoluteness, and a recognition that neither individuals nor organizations like ISIL can ultimately undermine our way of life, that’s the kind of strength that makes me so proud to be an American. And that’s the kind of strength that is going to be absolutely critical not just in the days to come but in the years to come.
By showing those who want to do us harm that they will never beat us, by showing the entire world that as Americans we do not, and never will, give in to fear, that’s going to be the most important ingredient in us defeating those who would carry our terrorist acts against us.
Thank you very much, everybody. And as I said, you will be receiving, I’m sure, ongoing briefings from both the FBI and local law enforcement in terms of the details of the investigation.
Hillary Clinton Campaign Rally in Philadelphia - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at a campaign event at Temple University in Philadelphia on economic issues affecting millennial voters.
On this Monday, September 19 transmission of the Alex Jones Show, radio host and author Dr. Michael Savage joins to discuss the multiple terror attacks that occurred this weekend. Additionally, we cover election 2016 and how each candidate responded to the recent attacks. Also on today's show, Hillary responds to a man shouting "Hillary for prison".
Trump Complains That Bombing Suspect Will Get Medical Care, Due Process
Ahmad Rahami is an American citizen.
By Christina Wilkie 09/19/2016 06:46 pm ET
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday complained that under U.S. law, bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami would be treated in a hospital for his injuries, and represented by a lawyer if, and when, he is tried for his alleged role in a string of bombings in New York and New Jersey.
“Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world,” Trump told the crowd at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida.
Rahami “will be given a fully modern and updated hospital room, and he’ll probably even have room service, knowing the way our country is,” Trump said. “On top of that, he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer.”
Trump’s objection to granting Rahami, a U.S. citizen, his constitutional right to due process, which is guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment, is in keeping with other comments Trump has made about national security and individual rights.
Still, it was chilling to hear him scoff at a fundamental American value. He seemed to be saying that criminal suspects should not receive emergency medical care and legal representation.
Trump also complained that Rahami’s punishment might be too lenient, because public anger would likely have subsided by the time Rahami would be sentenced, if he were to be found guilty of the bombings.
“His case will go through the various court systems for years. And in the end, people will forget, and his punishment won’t be what it once would have been,” Trump said. “What a sad situation.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday appeared to back up Trump, calling on the Obama administration to suspend many of Rahami’s constitutional rights by designating him an “enemy combatant.” The label that would allow prosecutors and investigators to forego reading Rahami his Miranda rights or appointing a lawyer to defend him.
Trump Laments ‘We’re Not Allowed to Profile’ in Terror Fight Cites Israel as example of nation effectively using profiling Says he ‘called’ cause of New York blast ‘before the news’ September 19, 2016 — Updated on September 19, 2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. response to domestic terrorism is inhibited by police officers afraid they’ll be accused of profiling. “Our police are amazing. Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. They’re afraid to do anything about it because they don’t want to be accused of profiling and they don’t want to be accused of all sorts of things,” Trump said in a Fox News phone interview. “If somebody looks like he’s got a massive bomb on his back we won’t go up to that person and say, ‘I’m sorry,’ because if he looks like he comes from that part of the world we’re not allowed to profile,” Trump said. “Give me a break.” Trump spoke after a dumpster bomb injured 29 people in New York City on Saturday night. New York City police said Monday they were looking for 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, for questioning in connection with the explosion. Israel Example Trump cited Israel, a U.S. ally in the Middle East, as an example of a nation that has used profiling to effectively fight terrorism. “In Israel they profile,” Trump said. “They’ve done an unbelievable job, as good as you can do.” “They see somebody that’s suspicious, they will profile. They will take that person and they’ll check out.” Suggesting that was the path the U.S. needed to take, he asked, “Do we have a choice?” ‘Does Not Work’ There’s no credible evidence that profiling prevents violence or criminality, said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It does not work. It has only marginalized and polarized communities, particularly minority communities,” Hussein said in an interview. It wastes law enforcement officials’ time and energy because it alienates the same people they need cooperation from, he said. Israel looks at human behavior and evidence, not race or religious identity, Hussein said. In any case, it’s not reasonable for the U.S. to use the same tactics as the Israelis, who are studying a much smaller population, he said. Blames Clinton Trump has blamed President Barack Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for allowing domestic terrorism threats -- what he called a “cancer from within” -- to flourish. Clinton was Obama’s secretary of state from 2009-2013. “Under the leadership of Obama & Clinton, Americans have experienced more attacks at home than victories abroad. Time to change the playbook!” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday. Asked on Fox News what he’d do, Trump said, “We’re going to have to do something extremely tough over there.” Like what, the Fox interviewer asked? “Like, knock the hell out of them,” Trump said. “And we have to get everybody together and we have to lead for a change. We’re not knocking them. We’re hitting them every once in a while. We’re hitting them in certain places. We’re being very gentle about it. We’re going to have to be very tough.” He said that while he supports freedom of the press, which is protected in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, those who publish bomb-making instructions in print magazines or online should be arrested. “And we can’t let any more people come into this country,” he said. [...] http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-09-19/trump-says-fear-of-profiling-inhibits-u-s-terrorism-prevention [with embedded video report]
Why Trump Calls for Racial Profiling After Attacks Donald Trump said in the wake of this weekend's bombing in Manhattan that New York police "don't want to be accused of profiling." GOP nominee has history of jumping to dangerous conclusions – most recently after the New York bombing September 19, 2016 [...] But there is a reason why people – elected officials in particular – wait for confirmation and for details after incidents like the one that occurred in New York this weekend: Early reports are often inaccurate, and spreading misinformation can have devastating consequences. And Donald Trump should know this from experience. In 1989, after 28-year-old Trisha Meili was brutally attacked while jogging in Central Park, Donald Trump took out a full-page ad [ https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/07/30/nyregion/NYTRUMPweb2/NYTRUMPweb2-blog427.jpg ] in four New York newspapers that bears striking similarities to the case he made Monday morning on Fox and Friends: our safety is being jeopardized by being politically correct. "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!" the ad screamed in a font that took up half the page. "Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!" "Let our politicians give back our police department's power to keep us safe. Unshackle them from the constant chant of 'police brutality' which every petty criminal hurls immediately at an officer who has just risked his or her life to save another's. We must cease our continuous pandering so the criminal population of this City. Give New York back to the citizens who have earned the right to be New Yorkers. Send a message loud and clear to those who would murder our citizens and terrorize New York." The criminals whose death he was calling for were five teenagers (four black, one Hispanic) between the ages of 14 and 16 accused of attacking Meili. They were arrested, coerced into signing false confessions, convicted and sent to prison. Then in 2002, another convicted rapist serving a life sentence in jail admitted to committing the rape alone; DNA evidence confirmed the man's guilt. The so-called Central Park Five sued the City of New York for racial discrimination, among other things; they settled the case in 2014 for $41 million. In an interview with The Guardian [ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/17/central-park-five-donald-trump-jogger-rape-case-new-york ] this year, Yusef Salaam, one of the teenagers convicted, recalled the impact Trump's letter had at the time it was published, less than two weeks after the attack. "I knew that this famous person calling for us to die was very serious," Salaam said. "We were all afraid. Our families were afraid. Our loved ones were afraid. For us to walk around as if we had a target on our backs, that's how things were." He said the number of death threats his family received increased precipitously after Trump's ad ran. "Had this been the 1950s, that sick type of justice that they wanted – somebody from that darker place of society would have most certainly came to our homes, dragged us from our beds and hung us from trees in Central Park," as Pat Buchanan at the time suggested [ http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/entertainment2/56107913-223/central-park-burns-http.html.csp ] they should be, Salaam added. Trump loves to take credit for being right, and his handling of the Central Park Five case shows he can't admit fault when he's wrong. After all five convictions were vacated and the settlement was finally reached, Trump surveyed the damage he's helped wrought and, in an op-ed for the New York Daily News, pointed blame at everyone else. "The justice system has a lot to answer for, as does the City of New York regarding this very mishandled disaster. Information was being leaked to newspapers by someone on the case from the beginning, and the blunders were frequent and obvious." Even the teenagers, who spent between six and 11 years in jail for a crime they didn't commit were at fault: They did not, after all, "exactly have the pasts of angels," Trump wrote. In an interview shortly after the settlement was announced while he was still mulling his candidacy, Trump said he believed his brash, shoot-from-the-hip style would prove an advantage. "I think it will help me," he told [ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/17/central-park-five-donald-trump-jogger-rape-case-new-york ] his biographer, Michael D'Antonio. "I think people are tired of politically correct. I just attacked the Central Park Five settlement. Who's going to do that?" http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/why-trump-calls-for-racial-profiling-after-attacks-w440900 [with comments]
New York Congressman On Bombing Suspect’s Capture: ‘You Are Welcome Colin Kaepernick’ OK, then. 09/19/2016 Updated September 19, 2016 Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) had a strange reaction to the capture of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old suspect wanted in connection with an explosion Saturday night [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/explosion-chelsea-manhattan_us_57ddea74e4b04a1497b4ed5f ] in New York City. The freshman congressman, who represents New York’s 1st Congressional District, addressed San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in an apparently sarcastic tweet [ https://twitter.com/leezeldin/status/777897972499488768 ] on Monday. Over the last few weeks, Kaepernick has refused to stand during the national anthem in order to protest racial bias in policing and police brutality. Zeldin, who was deployed to Iraq in 2006 and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, somehow drew a connection between the protest ? an expression of free speech ? and the bombing in Manhattan. [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lee-zeldin-colin-kaepernick_us_57e00b2fe4b04a1497b5a11c
Fear of Other People Is Now the Primary Motivation for American Gun Ownership, a Landmark Survey Finds A momentous shift in what kinds of firearms Americans are owning — and why — has huge implications for public health. September 19, 2016 https://www.thetrace.org/2016/09/harvard-gun-ownership-study-self-defense/
Crime Will Likely Stay At Near-Historic Lows In 2016, Despite What Donald Trump Says Even though violent crime and homicide rates are on the rise, certain major cities are accounting for the majority of the increase. This does not evidence a national crime wave since certain factors cause crime spikes ? such as poverty, unemployment and segregated neighborhoods. “Since homicide rates remain low nationwide, percentage increases may overstate relatively small increases,” the report says. “In San Jose, for example, just 21 new murders translated to an increase of 70.6 percent. Based on this data, the authors conclude there is no evidence of a national murder wave, yet increases in these select cities are indeed a serious problem.” “Warnings of a coming crime wave may be provocative, but they are not supported by the evidence.” 09/19/2016 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/donald-trump/ ] claims that crime is “out of control [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/12/no-donald-trump-crime-is-not-out-of-control/ ].” As with most of what Trump says [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/22/all-of-donald-trumps-four-pinocchio-ratings-in-one-place/ ], the evidence isn’t really there. A preliminary analysis released Monday [ https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/crime-2016-preliminary-analysis (embedded scribd-style)] by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice projects that crime rates will remain near an all-time low in 2016. The rates are expected to hover around last year’s numbers, increasing only slightly by 1.3 percent. “These findings undercut media reports referring to crime as ‘out of control,’ or heralding a new nationwide crime wave,” the report says. [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/us-crime-rates-2016_us_57e01a0ee4b04a1497b5bdfc [with embedded video, and comments]
Donald Trump Jr. Just Compared Syrian Refugees to Poisoned Skittles Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr This image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first. #trump2016 4:41 PM - 19 Sep 2016 [ https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/778016283342307328 (with comments)] Because actual human lives and candy are comparable, apparently. Sep 19, 2016 [...] Of course, this isn't the first time Syrian lives have been equated to candy. Late last year, a similar meme equating the situation to 10 poisoned M&Ms out of 10,000 went viral (among racist xenophobes, that is). Shocker: Trump Jr. isn't even original. If I had a bowl of 10,000 M&M's... by Iloverefugees Nov 19 2015 I get that not all of the Syrian refugees coming to the United States are terrorists. I get that even 99% of them probably aren't. But the fact is that the FBI and CIA have no way of completely vetting them and making sure there aren't terrorists slipping in among them. Why should we put Americans in danger even if we feel it's not a significant threat? [ http://imgur.com/gallery/BA9a0SG (with comments)] http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a48728/donald-trump-jr-just-compared-syrian-refugees-to-poisoned-skittles/
I have always been deeply proud to be an American. In the time I have left, I pray that will never change.
By Kirk Douglas 09/19/2016 04:07 pm ET
I am in my 100th year. When I was born in 1916 in Amsterdam, New York, Woodrow Wilson was our president.
My parents, who could not speak or write English, were emigrants from Russia. They were part of a wave of more than two million Jews that fled the Czar’s murderous pogroms at the beginning of the 20th Century. They sought a better life for their family in a magical country where, they believed, the streets were literally paved with gold.
What they did not realize until after they arrived was that those beautiful words carved into the Statute of Liberty in New York Harbor: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,” did not apply equally to all new Americans. Russians, Poles, Italians, Irish and, particularly Catholics and Jews, felt the stigma of being treated as aliens, as foreigners who would never become “real Americans.”
They say there is nothing new under the sun. Since I was born, our planet has traveled around it one hundred times. With each orbit, I’ve watched our country and our world evolve in ways that would have been unimaginable to my parents – and continue to amaze me with each passing year.
In my lifetime, American women won the right to vote, and one is finally the candidate of a major political party. An Irish-American Catholic became president. Perhaps, most incredibly, an African-American is our president today.
The longer I’ve lived, the less I’ve been surprised by the inevitability of change, and how I’ve rejoiced that so many of the changes I’ve seen have been good.
Yet, I’ve also lived through the horrors of a Great Depression and two World Wars, the second of which was started by a man who promised that he would restore his country it to its former greatness.
I was 16 when that man came to power in 1933. For almost a decade before his rise he was laughed at ? not taken seriously. He was seen as a buffoon who couldn’t possibly deceive an educated, civilized population with his nationalistic, hateful rhetoric.
The “experts” dismissed him as a joke. They were wrong.
A few weeks ago we heard words spoken in Arizona that my wife, Anne, who grew up in Germany, said chilled her to the bone. They could also have been spoken in 1933:
“We also have to be honest about the fact that not everyone who seeks to join our country will be able to successfully assimilate. It is our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish here…[including] new screening tests for all applicants that include an ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values…”
These are not the American values that we fought in World War II to protect.
Until now, I believed I had finally seen everything under the sun. But this was the kind of fear-mongering I have never before witnessed from a major U.S. presidential candidate in my lifetime.
I have lived a long, good life. I will not be here to see the consequences if this evil takes root in our country. But your children and mine will be. And their children. And their children’s children.
All of us still yearn to remain free. It is what we stand for as a country. I have always been deeply proud to be an American. In the time I have left, I pray that will never change. In our democracy, the decision to remain free is ours to make.
My 100th birthday is exactly one month and one day after the next presidential election. I’d like to celebrate it by blowing out the candles on my cake, then whistling “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
As my beloved friend Lauren Bacall once said, “You know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.”
State's cowardly act: Changing the rules for Flint
A wall of empty water bottles is held as a backdrop as media films while Minister Rigel Dawson, North Central Church of Christ, speaks while calling out Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump during a press conference outside of the Flint Water Treatment Plant in Wednesday September 14, 2016 before Trump's visit to Flint. Residents, activists and officials held 'Water Not Walls' conference to denounce Trump for using the Flint Water Crisis as a campaign prop. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)
Detroit Free Press Editorial Board 2:45 p.m. EDT September 19, 2016
In practice, that means the city can't sue the state. And that means the City of Flint, on behalf of its citizen-taxpayer residents, can't seek redress of its grievances against the State of Michigan through the courts -- a protection conferred by the U.S. Constitution.
And the City of Flint has plenty to feel grieved about.
Because of disastrous decisions made by Snyder's administration, the city's water supply was poisoned with lead, a neurotoxin that's not safe for human consumption. It's especially dangerous for children, for whom exposure to lead can cause long-term behavioral and developmental problems. The state government's response to the Flint water crisis has ranged from diffident to quasi-effective, and nearly a year after Snyder acknowledged that something was amiss in Flint (after months of insisting that something definitely was not) it is still not safe to drink unfiltered Flint water.
In March, the city filed a statement of intent to sue — not a lawsuit, but, because of a pertinent statute of limitations, a legal process necessary to protect the city's ability to file future lawsuits. This did not go over well with state lawmakers, then sorting out what kind of aid Flint would receive in the next state budget. Speaking this spring, state Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, said "a reckless lawsuit could throw the state budget into disarray and undermine everything we’ve done for the city." (More on this in a minute.)
Flint emerged from emergency management — a state law allows the governor to appoint a financial manager for cities in fiscal crisis — in April 2015, but a Receivership Transition Advisory Board (members appointed by Snyder) remains in place to sign off on financial decisions. That board changed the rules for Flint, ensuring that it most approve either filing or settling any lawsuits in which the city is involved while the board remains in place, the Free Press' Paul Egan reported Monday.
The ability to file suit is restricted for cities under emergency management, but there are key legal distinctions: The emergency manager law can be applied to any city in the state. Snyder's dictum applies just to Flint. And we've said before that the emergency manager law, as constituted, is not working. It needs revision — particularly, a mechanism that allows residents some right of appeal to an outside body that can review an emergency manager's decisions.
That the governor acted so swiftly to deny the City of Flint, specifically, the right to legal recourse, it's a stunning abuse of power.
The State of Michigan started recalcitrant in its obligation to fix the problems it caused in Flint. State response has improved, but Flint is still struggling to recover from the aftermath of the state-created disaster visited upon it, and it's worth saying again: It's still not safe to drink unfiltered Flint water. It's still unclear who will foot the entirety of the bill to replace lead service lines and fixtures. Litigation is an important tool the City of Flint should have available to ensure its needs — the needs of its residents, including the roughly 9,000 children exposed to lead — are met.
It's worth noting how wrong-headed Cotter's response to Flint's intention to file future suit is. Cotter's response, that "a reckless lawsuit" could mess up the state budget, casts state aid for Flint as a handout, or altruism. It is not. The state is required to clean up the mess it made in Flint, as it should be required to in any Michigan community.
Except that it isn't true. Snyder's business tax cuts haven't resulted in more, better jobs for Michiganders. While the state's economy has improved, that's due more to the nation's economic improvement — and the recovery of the auto industry — than any policy Snyder can reasonably take credit for.
But there is no more persistent fly in the proverbial ointment than the City of Flint.
Just how far is Snyder willing to go, to gild his legacy? We fear we've yet to find out.
Pat McCrory’s Utterly Absurd Excuse For Not Repealing HB2 N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore (R) says his hands are tied on repealing HB2 because of a Charlotte ordinance that has no bearing on repealing HB2. Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts (D) on repealing an anti-discrimination ordinance in exchange for state lawmakers thinking about maybe repealing HB2: Yeah, no. The North Carolina governor blames critics of the anti-LGBT law for keeping it in place. Really? 09/19/2016 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-pat-mccrory-hb2_us_57e021f9e4b04a1497b5ca55 [with comments]
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