CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
10-26-17
By Cash Michaels
THE
LOWEST LEVEL YET – The latest episode in the Donald Trump White House of Shame
has to be the lowest level yet for “the Orange One’ – effectively calling the
widow of a Green Beret soldier a liar because she and her congresswoman, and
her mother told the truth about the so-called “condolence” call Trump made to
her about the death of her husband – Sgt. La Donald Johnson of Florida.
By
now you know the story – Congresswoman Frederica Wilson was invited to listen
by Sgt. Johnson’s widow as Trump called, supposedly to offer condolences on the
death of her husband after an ambush in Niger. Trump apparently never used Sgt.
Johnson’s name in his remarks, and also told the grieving widow that her late
husband “…knew what he was signing up for….,” meaning that the man was a
soldier, and soldiers fight to die for their country, so no big surprise here.
Sorry it had to be your husband this time, but those are the breaks.
Needless
to say, the widow was even more distraught after her husband’s coldhearted
commander-in-chief seemingly write him off as just another war casualty.
And
Congresswoman Wilson, who knew Sgt. Johnson very well since he was a teenager,
wasn’t having any of it. Apparently with permission from the widow and the rest
of the family, Wilson blasted the president for his insensitive remarks and
tone.
So
what does the Trump White House do? Instead of using common sense, and some
decency, for goodness sakes, they decide to strike back, first calling Congresswoman
Wilson “wacky” because she loves to wear cowboy hats, and then further blasting
her for daring to openly challenge Trump.
That’s
when White House Chief of Staff Jo at a 2015hn Kelly, a retired four-star
general in the US Marines, who lost his son to combat in 2010, chimed in,
personally attacking Rep. Wilson for allegedly self-serving remarks she made at
the 2015 opening of a new FBI building in Florida.
Except
that a video of the event Kelly referenced showed no such thing. What the video
did show was Congresswoman Wilson praising the FBI, praising law enforcement in
general, and praising the memory of the two agents the building was named for.
If
anything, she gave plenty of credit to the Renate who helped her get the naming
of the building official in just four weeks.
So
now the world sees that not is President Trump a liar (we knew that, but now
he’s corrupted his chief of staff, a military man whose sense of duty should
always mandate that he be honest, no matter what.
Instead,
we now know that Gen. Kelly is a liar, too.
And
then Monday morning, the widow interviews on ABC-TV, confirms what
Congresswoman Wilson has been saying the whole time, and makes clear that her
late husband, who she buried just the day before, deserved better from the
president of the United States.
And
what does Trump do? Gets on Twitter, and essentially calls her a liar.
My
late mother used to always tell me that “GOD does not like ugly.” In that case,
I can’t see him having any love for Donald Trump, John Kelly, Sara Huckabee
Sanders, or the rest of the most shameful White House in American history. Even
Richard Nixon’s thieving White House had some redeeming qualities, compared to
this bunch.
This
is indeed, the lowest level ever.
2020
can’t come fast enough for us to vote these evil clowns out of office!
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U.S. ARMY SGT. LA DAVID JOHNSON
DEFENDING REP. WILSON - Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), seen here standing with embattled Florida Congresswoman Fredericka Wilson, joined his North Carolina colleague, Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12), in demanding that the White House apologize to Wilson for effectively calling her "wacky" and a liar per the flap over Pres. Trump's alleged insensitive remarks to a Gold Star widow. [ picture courtesy of Congressman Butterfield's Office]
ADAMS, BUTTERFIELD BLAST TRUMP
U.S. ARMY SGT. LA DAVID JOHNSON
ADAMS, BUTTERFIELD BLAST TRUMP
OVER GOLD STAR WIDOW
FLAP
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
In
the midst of last week’s blazing controversy concerning Pres. Trump’s alleged
insensitive remarks to a Gold Star widow upon her husband’s death, and the
president and Chief of Staff John Kelly’s lambasting of a Florida congresswoman
who criticized Trump afterwards,
both North Carolina black congressional members are outraged, and say the White
House owes apologies to the dead soldier’s family, the congresswoman, and the
nation.
“It
is embarrassing that this administration is more concerned about belittling a
sitting congresswoman than getting answers for the families of these fallen
heroes,” US Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12) said in a statement Monday.
Adams and her North Carolina
colleague, Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), joined the chorus of
criticism against Trump, Kelly (who is also a retired four-star Marine general
who lost his son in combat in 2010), and the rest of the administration for effectively
calling Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (D-Fla) a liar when she alleged that on
a condolence call to Myeshia Johnson, the pregnant widow of Sgt. La Donald
Johnson, who was killed during an Oct. 4th ambush in the African
country of Niger with three colleagues, that Trump matter-of-factly told Mrs.
Johnson by speakerphone on Oct. 17th, “ …he knew what he signed up for, but it
hurts anyway…,” and didn’t even refer to her late husband by name.
“That’s
what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our
country, and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his
name? And that’s what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was
an awesome soldier,” Mrs. Johnson told ABC News Monday.
Trump, in a series of angry tweets,
denied saying that, and Gen. Kelly then publicly blasted Congresswoman Wilson,
calling her “an empty barrel” during a White House briefing last week.
Rep.
Adams wasn’t having it.
“Rep. Wilson has
been a principled leader and servant to her South Florida constituents, many of
whom she’s come to love like family, for decades,” Adams says. “She continued
this record of service last week when she visited with the family of fallen
hero Sergeant La David Johnson, who graduated from her mentorship program 5000
Role Models of Excellence. While President Trump spent the weekend at his golf
course tweeting about football, Rep. Wilson attended Sergeant Johnson’s funeral
and continues to call for answers to what happened in Niger.”
Rep.
Wilson has also been a leading proponent of rescuing 276 school girls from the
Nigerian town of Chibok who were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram in
April 2014.
Congressman Butterfield was just as
flabbergasted.
“I find it appalling that President Trump was
unable to simply offer condolences to a Gold Star wife and express gratitude
for the sacrifice her husband made on behalf of our nation. Instead, he
decided to not only attack a sitting Member of Congress in an attempt to impugn
her integrity, but today he had the audacity to attack Sgt. La David Johnson’s
grieving widow on her account of their phone call. I stand with
Congresswoman Wilson- who is a dedicated public servant, and I believe the
White House owes her an apology for their petty insults and false statements.”
Adding more proverbial salt to the
open wound, Gen. Kelly went on at that press briefing to strongly suggest that
Wilson was a lying showoff who previously boasted about raising the money
needed to get a new FBI building built in Florida in 2015. A video of the event
actually proved Kelly wrong (Wilson wasn’t even in Congress when that money was
appropriated), but that didn’t stop Pres. Trump from still attacking Rep.
Wilson as “wacky” and a liability to Democrats.
On
Monday, Mrs. Johnson, a day after burying her husband, confirmed to ABC News
Congresswoman Wilson’s version of events, further indicating that she felt the
president disrespected her late husband’s memory, leaving her “angry and in
tears.”
All
of the Congressional Black Caucus was livid with the White House, but on
Monday, Congresswoman Adams led the female members of the CBC in standing up
for their colleague, Rep. Wilson.
“We
were appalled by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s statements where he
called Congresswoman Wilson an ‘empty barrel’ and accused her of taking credit
for securing funding for a new FBI Building in Miramar, Florida…,” the CBC
women’s statement said.
“General
Kelly’s comments are reprehensible,” it continued. “Congresswoman Wilson’s
integrity and credibility should not be challenged or undermined by such
blatant lies. We, the women of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly stand
with Congresswoman Wilson and demand that General Kelly apologize to her
without delay and take responsibility for his reckless and false
statements.”
Meanwhile,
news is just starting to filter out of Niger this week as to exactly what
happened in the Oct. 4th ambush that claimed the four American
servicemen’s lives. Cong. Butterfield says that is what the president, and the
nation, should be focused on.
“We should be mourning the passing of Sgt. La
David Johnson and honoring his service to our country,” Butterfield said. “I
offer my sincerest condolences to Sgt. La David Johnson’s wife and pray that
she and Sgt. Johnson’s family find peace in this tragedy.”
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NEW SENATE BILL
THREATENS
JUSTICE MIKE MORGAN’S
TENURE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Just
when Democratic lawmakers thought they’d seen it all when it comes to
Republican voter suppression laws, illegal voting districts and, in the opinion
of many, over-all power grabs, comes yet another legislative shocker.
As
the third Special Session called by Republican leaders in the NC General
Assembly ended last week on Oct. 17th, Sen. Bill Rabon (R-New Hanover) filed SB
698, a Constitutional Amendment titled “Increase Voter Accountability of
Judges:”
The bill
reads in part, “Justices
of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Court of Appeals, and regular Judges of the
Superior Court shall be elected by the qualified voters (of the state) and shall
hold office for terms of two years and until their successors are elected and
qualified.
(2) All terms of office for persons elected prior to July 1, 2018,
to the office of Justice of the Supreme Court, Judge of the Court of Appeals,
or regular Judge of the Superior Court shall expire December 31, 2018.
(3) All Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Court of
Appeals, and regular Judges of the Superior Court shall be elected to a
two-year term of office beginning with the general election held in 2018."
With
the General Assembly reconvening in January, this amendment could be on the May
2018 ballot for voter’s approval, with judicial elections held in November
2018.
Then on Tuesday morning of this
week, Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger (R- Rockingham) announced the
formation of a new 15-member Senate Select Committee on Judicial Reform and
Redistricting.
Sen. Rabon is one of three Republican senators to chair the
committee. Indeed, there are only five Democratic senators appointed to the
panel, meaning that Republicans, just like in the rest of the legislature, are
in the majority and in control, so they’ll have the final word.
“This committee
will carefully consider all options on how we select judges, including the
House’s judicial redistricting bill, merit selection models, retention
elections, and, if we maintain a system of elections, their frequency and
partisan structure,” Sen. Berger added. “I sincerely hope the committee reaches
a consensus recommendation that will modernize and strengthen our courts.”
Most
Democrats interviewed believe that by “strengthen our courts,” Sen. Berger and
other GOP’ers simply mean put more Republicans on the bench, especially on the
state Supreme Court. Dems’ nerves have already been rubbed raw by House Bill
717, which calls for judicial redistricting without any judicial input, and
they found no relief when Republicans voted to literally cancel the 2018
judicial primaries over Gov. Cooper’s veto, leaving the possibility of adopting
a judicial merit selection system when lawmakers return for their next regular
session on Jan. 10th.
But
the target of Sen. Rabon’s Senate Bill 698 isn’t just reducing the terms of
superior court judges or state Supreme Court justices – most of whom are
Democrats.
“The most prominent victims of this court destruction scheme will
be those judges who were elected during this past election to four and eight
year terms of office, and this class includes Associate Supreme Court Justice
Michael Morgan, an African American,” says attorney Irving Joyner, chair of the
NCNAACP Legal Redress Committee.
“The
goal of this constitutional plan is to provide for the election of judges who
are beholding to the Republican Party or its present right-wing ideology,”
atty. Joyner continued. “As such, it is an attempt to high-jack our court
system and it should be aggressively resisted. Voters, especially African
Americans, should fight back against this sordid scheme.”
Morgan’s 2016 election gave Democrats a 4-3
majority on the state’s High Court. Republican legislative leaders toyed with
simply increasing the number of seats on the court to ultimately have more
Republicans either be elected, or appointed. But now with Rabon’s bill, if it
passes next session, Morgan’s term would be end December 31, 2018, giving him only
two-years on the bench.
Every
other justice’s term would end in December 2018 as well, meaning regardless of
how long they’ve served, they’d have to either run for re-lection, or leave
office. Now that justices and judges are required to run in partisan races, it
would make it easier for GOP judicial candidates to mount more negative
campaigns against Democrats.
Even
former NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds, a Republican, who Morgan defeated
last year, “questioned the wisdom” of reducing High Court judicial terms to
just two-years. Another Republican former state Supreme Court justice, Robert
Orr, called the proposed Rabon amendment, “ …just wrong,” adding it was a “…“continued
effort to try and intimidate the judiciary.”
A
Greensboro newspaper called it, “..legislating by Keystone Kops…disorder in the
courts is the likely outcome.”
Republican Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth),
however, sees nothing wrong with
radically changing the system.
“This bill was introduced while we
were leaving town and there was no discussion while we were in session.
So I don't know much about it,” Rep. Lambeth admitted. “But it is an
interesting idea and does seem to be consistent with legislative elections that
are every two years. So it seems a reasonable idea. It is hard to
know if it will move forward or when.”
If
Sen. Rabon’s bill passes, it would make North Carolina the only state in the
nation requiring just two-year terms for its Supreme Court justices.
Needless
to say, Democrats find themselves, once again, shaking their heads.
“This continuing, unnecessary
infringement on the structure of the judicial branch by the legislature -
without demand for it and without proper vetting - smacks of the worst type of
political maneuvering,” opined Rep. Amos Quick (D- Guilford).
Rep.
Quick’s Guilford County colleague, Rep. Pricey Harrison, also gave the
Republicans no slack.
“Because
the GOP has not had great success defending their legislation in the courts,
they seem determined to design a system to create more Republican judges, at a
time when North Carolinians want less partisanship in the courts,” Harrison
said. “The latest bill which would call for a constitutional amendment to
shorten all judges terms, seems to be an attempt to create more chaos, and may
be intended to build support for the leadership's proposed "legislative
selection," where the legislative leadership would chose judges.”
Rep. Harrison concluded, “The
justification offered by the proponents of the shortened terms, to hold judges
more accountable, is preposterous. We want fair judges, who interpret the law
without bias, not judges who are worried about potentially unpopular decisions
and elections every two years.”
Over on the Senate side, Democratic Minority Leader Dan
Blue (D-Wake) is one of the five Democratic committee members, along with
African-American colleague Sen. Floyd McKissick (D-Durham). But Blue doesn’t
hold out much hope for a fair process.
“This bill is the latest in a wave of assaults
on the judicial branch,” Sen. Blue declared. “There is no logic or reasoning
behind it, only contempt for the courts that have continued to rule against
Republican agendas. Two-year terms for judges is ludicrous.”
“This appears to be another intimidation tactic
on the legislature’s part and, I hope, it won’t progress any further and come
to a vote,” Blue continued. “I trust that my colleagues in the Senate have
enough sense not to support such a draconian measure. In the end, this only
serves to cause further disruption and instability in our system of government;
and that only serves to further hurt North Carolina.”
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STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
10-26-17
A THIRD GENX LAWSUIT
[WILMINGTON] A 58-year-old Leland woman has filed a
class action lawsuit against Chemours, the chemical company that admittedly has
been dumping the toxic chemical Gen X into the Cape Fear River, allegedly
polluting the New Hanover County water supply, and it’s parent company, DuPont.
Victoria Carey alleges in her suit filed Monday in federal court that in June
she had sludge samples from her five-year-old water heater tested at a private
lab. The results showed higher than normal toxicity levels for Gen X. Ms. Carey
is suing Chemours and Dupont for negligence, among other charges. This is the
third lawsuit against the companies since the new broke about Gen x
contamination last June.
ASHE COUNTY SHERIFF
INDICTED FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
[JEFFERSON]
An Ashe County grand jury has indicted the sheriff there for three counts of
felony obstruction, and a misdemeanor charge of willful failure to discharge
his duties. Sheriff Terry Buchanan. A local TV station investigating Buchanan’s
appointment to office last January found itself denied communications records
between the sheriff and the Ashe Board of Commissioners twice. Then in April,
Sheriff Buchanan, allegedly referencing the records denial, told the board, “We
don’t have time for this.” Now the NC State Bureau of Investigation is looking
into the matter.
LGBTQ RIGHTS GROUP
REVOKES FRANCIS ENDORSEMENT FOR RALEIGH MAYOR
As
the second place finisher in the October 10th Raleigh mayoral
primary, the last thing candidate Charles Francis needs is a loss of support.
But with two weeks before the Nov. 7th runoff, that’s what Francis
faces as Equality NC Action Fund, a political action committee representing the
LGBTQ community, tool back it’s endorsement of Francis because a closer look at
his history reveals he once campaigned for an anti-gay rights Republican candidate
for senator. Francis is a Democrat, and was endorsed by the Wake Democratic
Party, even though the Raleigh mayoral race is nonpartisan. Francis is trying
to unseat three-term Mayor Nancy McFarlane.
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