Californians on shaky ground when it comes to earthquake insurance protections – CBS News
Californians on shaky ground when it comes to earthquake insurance protections – CBS News
  • California authorities are hoping Thursday’s earthquake proves to be a wakeup call for residents who may not be ready for the big one.
  • A majority of California residents live near an active fault line, but only about 10% have purchased earthquake insurance. 
  • Had Thursday’s quake occurred under a densely populated area, the state would likely be dealing with “many more injuries and damages in the billions,” according to the CEO of the California Earthquake Authority.

With Californians still getting rattled by the aftershocks of Thursday’s powerful earthquake, state authorities are hoping the Independence Day trembler will serve as a wakeup call to residents to get ready for the next one. And there will be a next one — maybe even the big one. 

There’s a 99% chance that a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 or greater will hit California in the next 30 years, and a majority of California residents live within 30 miles of an active fault line, according to experts. Yet just 13% of the state’s residents purchased earthquake coverage in 2017, according to a July 2018 study by the California Department of Insurance. 

That 13% figure, however, involves Californians with homeowner insurance, and is actually smaller when looking at insured and uninsured residents, according to Glenn Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority, or CEA, a nonprofit that offers residential earthquake insurance to Californians. 

“It’s alarming to think only about 10% of homes in California have earthquake insurance,” Pomeroy said. “California is home to two-thirds of the nation’s earthquake risk.”

Michio Kaku on California earthquakes: “We’re playing Russian roulette with Mother Nature”

If Thursday’s quake had occurred under a densely populated area, it’s “likely that California would be looking at many more injuries and damages in the billions of dollars,” Pomeroy stated. “This event is an important reminder that all of California is earthquake country. We need to listen to the experts in the field who’ve been telling us for some time we’re going to get hit again, that the pressures on the faults are building.” 

The CEA, a privately funded but publicly managed organization, has about 2,000 policyholders in the areas affected by this week’s quake, according to Pomeroy. It insures more than 1 million households in the state overall. 

“People in California don’t have to purchase earthquake insurance, generally speaking, when they are buying a home. It’s not a requirement like if you’re in a flood zone,” said Janet Ruiz, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based industry association. Lenders require homeowners to purchase fire insurance when they sign up for a mortgage, but quake coverage is not part of a basic homeowners policy, she said.

“Drop, cover and hold on”

When Californians receive insurance renewals, they include a notification telling them they don’t have earthquake insurance on their standard policies, according to Ruiz. “It’s something for people to consider. FEMA payouts are not going to cover it,” she added of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the agency created to help respond to domestic disasters. 

While the quake safety mantra from officials as to what to do when the ground starts shaking is “drop, cover and hold on,” other steps to prepare for surviving and recovering from damaging quakes include retrofitting homes built before 1980 and the advent of more quake-conscious building codes. 

Powerful earthquake hits Southern California

“In an earthquake, older homes will shake off their foundation,” said Ruiz, who noted that the CEA offers grants to help finance fixes through its “Earthquake Brace and Bolt” program.

The CEA was created by lawmakers after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake killed 57 people and injured more than 9,000. The quake, centered in the San Fernando Valley, sparked fires, landslides and collapsed buildings and freeway overpasses, and snapped water and gas lines. “We were organized by the state of California after a big earthquake 25 years ago caused $40 billion in property damage, and insurance companies didn’t want to have anything to do with earthquake insurance anymore,” explained the CEA’s Pomeroy.

Cost: $800 a year, on average

While the cost of earthquake insurance surged after Northridge, prices have come down more than 50% since CEA was formed, said Pomeroy. “We insure the home for its reconstruction value not its market value,” with the rates based on location and when a home was constructed, he explained. 

Earthquake insurance cost $800 a year on average, but what might cost $300 in Sacramento could come to two grand in Los Angeles, where the threat is higher, Pomeroy said.

In addition to the CEA, several companies sell earthquake insurance, with one recently introduced product that pays out claims to those living in an impacted area, even if there’s no damage. “The trigger is the actual earthquake but you don’t have to have damage per se,” said Ruiz. “You might have to evacuate, so there can be actual costs even if you don’t have damage.”

California is not alone in being a quake-prone state. States with quake activity in recent years include Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma and Missouri, Washington and Utah, according to the U.S.Geological Survey.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-earthquake-insurance-homeowners-on-shaky-ground-when-it-comes-to-earthquake-protections/

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Judge To Reconsider Discrimination Claim Against Potential 2020 Census Question – NPR
Judge To Reconsider Discrimination Claim Against Potential 2020 Census Question – NPR

Demonstrators against a proposal to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in April.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images


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Demonstrators against a proposal to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in April.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

A federal judge in Maryland is moving forward with a case that claims the Trump administration intended to discriminate against immigrant communities of color by adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

U.S. District Judge George Hazel ordered proceedings to continue after lawyers with the Justice Department confirmed in a court filing Friday that they are still exploring possible ways to add the question — “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” — to the census form. On Wednesday, President Trump indicated that he wants to find a way to do that would be acceptable to the Supreme Court.

Last month, the Supreme Court voted to leave in place a lower court ruling that rejected the Trump administration’s stated reason for the question. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the administration’s use of the Voting Rights Act to justify the question “seems to have been contrived.”

Hazel’s order means that as the Trump administration prolongs the legal fight to add a citizenship question to the census, more evidence may be revealed in court about how and exactly why the administration tried to include it.

The president was asked why on Friday, as he departed the White House for a weekend at his New Jersey golf club. “You need it for Congress, for districting,” he told reporters. “You need it for appropriations.”

Census information helps guide how some $880 billion a year in federal spending is distributed for schools, roads and other public services. The constitutionally mandated head count of every person in the U.S. also determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state is allotted for a decade.

The population numbers used, however, represent the total number of residents, not just U.S. citizens.

The administration argued for evidence-gathering for the Maryland-based lawsuits to be put on hold while the administration continues searching for a new reason to add the question. But Hazel ordered an immediate start to discovery, the legal process during which both sides dig for information and conduct interviews. Court documents show that officials from the Justice and Commerce departments will have to sit for questioning under oath if the discovery process continues as planned.

“Plaintiffs’ remaining claims are based on the premise that the genesis of the citizenship question was steeped in discriminatory motive,” Hazel wrote in a letter explaining his order. “Regardless of the justification Defendants may now find for a ‘new’ decision, discovery related to the origins of the question will remain relevant.”

Trump administration officials have said the addition of the citizenship question is needed to better protect the voting rights of racial and language minorities. But plaintiffs argue that Trump officials are attempting to give a political advantage to Republicans and non-Hispanic white people when new voting districts are drawn.

Also on Friday, Trump said he is “very seriously” considering an executive order that would place a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

“We have four or five ways we can do it,” Trump told reporters. “We’re working on a lot of things, including an executive order.”

Opponents of adding the citizenship question to the census pointed out that an executive order cannot supersede a court ruling.

“Such an order does not override a Supreme Court or other judicial decision; nor does it overturn or circumvent the congressionally established process for determining the content of the census,” said Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing some of the groups that sued the Trump administration over the question.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Around 1.5 billion paper mailings for the 2020 census — including some 137 million questionnaires — have to be printed so they can hit mailboxes starting in mid-March. Officials at the Justice Department and the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, said earlier this week that the printing of paper forms without the citizenship question has already started.

Trump suggested that officials could print the question as “an addendum,” but such an unusual move with the once-in-the-decade questionnaire is not described in the Census Bureau’s detailed operational plan for the 2020 census.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/07/05/739033701/judge-to-review-claims-of-census-citizenship-questions-discriminatory-origins

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MacKenzie Lueck’s body found in Logan Canyon – KOMO News
MacKenzie Lueck’s body found in Logan Canyon – KOMO News
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The future of America was on display in Alaska this week, not D.C. – The Washington Post
The future of America was on display in Alaska this week, not D.C. – The Washington Post

Lifeguard Luke Orot keeps watch July 4 at Jewel Lake in Anchorage. (Lance King/Getty Images)

Philip Bump

July 5 at 2:45 PM

Jets roaring overhead, President Trump on Thursday offered an updated version of his vision for the future of the United States: Lionizing the country’s military prowess and its president while saturated in red, white and blue. As fireworks exploded over the audience on the Mall, though, a more certain future for the country had already arrived in Anchorage.

There were no fireworks in Alaska’s largest city this week. The fire department determined that because of the extreme danger of wildfire, fireworks were just too risky. The city and others nearby continue to be in the grip of a historic heat wave, one that’s dried out vegetation and greatly increased the risk of devastating fires. Anchorage hit a record temperature of 90 degrees on Thursday — a higher temperature than could be found in most of the Lower 48 states from within a state that overlaps with the Arctic Circle.

Not that this happening is a surprise.

Below, we’ve taken data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on average temperatures in each state and graphed relative changes over time. The complex explanation of what this shows? In each state, we determined the average of each year’s average temperatures over the course of the 20th century. For each year since 1919 in each state, we took the average of the prior 10 years’ average temperatures (a rolling average) and compared it to the 20th century average.

The simple explanation? Lines that go above the solid black lines are states in which the recent average temperature has been warmer than the 20th century in that state.


(Philip Bump/The Washington Post)

You’ll notice that in all 50 states, the rolling average temperature has been trending up fairly consistently for about 50 years. In no state is that figure lower than the 20th century average, nor has it been for at least a decade.

Alaska sits near the top of those lines. Earlier this year, the government announced that 2018 had been the fourth-warmest year on record, with the Arctic warming faster than the rest of the planet. Anchorage isn’t within the Arctic Circle, but it’s clear that Alaska’s increased warmth stands out even among U.S. states.


(Philip Bump/The Washington Post)

As of 2018, the last year for which there are complete data (obviously), it’s Rhode Island that’s had the biggest increase in warmth relative to the 20th century over the past decade. The New England state edged out Alaska and New Jersey for that title.


(Philip Bump/The Washington Post)

But Rhode Island is generally warmer than Alaska, for obvious reasons. In other words, the 2.7 degree increase over the 20th century average that Rhode Island has seen may be higher than Alaska’s 2.5 degrees — but since Alaska is generally colder, it has seen greater warming as a percentage of its 1901 to 2000 average. (Since Alaska’s temperatures are generally cooler/lower, there’s more volatility from shifts in temperatures.)


(Philip Bump/The Washington Post)

The state that’s seen the most modest change relative to its 20th century average is the usually-warmer state of Alabama. While the trend has been similar, the increase relative to the average from last century is more modest.


(Philip Bump/The Washington Post)

But notice that circle near the black horizontal line. That’s the figure for Alabama in 2001, the last time that the 10-year rolling average for any state was at or below the state’s 20th century average.

It’s been 17 years since that happened.

This, not Alaska’s specific shifts, is the important point. The trend is for states to see higher and higher temperatures relative to what they saw in the past century. To be warmer and warmer. While no single day of heat in any state is proof of a long-term trend, models developed by scientists studying climate change have suggested that such increases are precisely what we should be expecting to see as the globe warms.

When George W. Bush took office, states in the United States were on average about 0.8 degrees warmer over the preceding decade than they had been over the past century. When Barack Obama took office, that figure was 1.2 degrees. Last year, it was 1.6 degrees.

When Trump leaves office? The safe bet is that it will be higher still.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/07/05/future-america-was-display-alaska-this-week-not-dc/

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Multiple injuries in Chicago resulted when guard mistook July 4 fireworks for gunfire – Fox News
Multiple injuries in Chicago resulted when guard mistook July 4 fireworks for gunfire – Fox News
Video

Fourth of July celebrations take violent turn in Chicago

Chicago police say three people were stabbed, several trampled at annual fireworks show; Mike Tobin reports.

Out in force, intending to prevent the gun violence that plagues Chicago, police officers were confronted with a different problem during the July 4 festivities.

According to police, after the organized fireworks, people continued to light off firecrackers. Police say a private security guard mistook the fireworks for gunfire.

TRUMP DEFIES OMINOUS PREDICTIONS WITH NONPARTISAN JULY 4TH SALUTE TO AMERICAN SPIRIT

“Private security officers assigned to Navy Pier signaled a possible active shooter and began to caution the crowd to take shelter on the ground.  This caused a stampede-like situation,” said Chief Fred Waller.

An unnamed witness said, “It was just chaos, a lot of people running away and children, and you know when one person runs, everybody runs so it was a domino effect.”

Adding to the confusion, one man ran into an upended table. Something sticking out of the table impaled his leg.

Police originally thought his injury was a gunshot wound. It is now estimated that 17 people were injured during the stampede. Most of the injuries are from people being trampled. None of the injuries are life-threatening.

In the chaos, police were handed one more problem. Officers said teenagers, just outside the entrance to the pier, were flashing gang signs. That sparked a fight and knives came out.

One person was stabbed in the armpit, the other stabbed in the arm and a rib. A third man, who police believe was not involved in the fight, was stabbed in the face. 

This happens as the new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, was executing an initiative to get ahead of the violence. The plan involved 1,500 additional officers on the street during the holiday weekend, undercover units and a special task forces designated for high-traffic areas.

There are multiple agencies involved in the effort, additional boats on Lake Michigan and a call for the public to cooperate with the police.

“We all need to work together because we are all in this together,” Lightfoot said at a press conference before the holiday.

From July 3 until today, police made 30 gun arrests and seized 63 guns. Three of the guns police described as assault weapons.

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Despite the effort – as of this writing – 33 people have been shot over the holiday weekend in Chicago. Three are dead. According to the Chicago Police Major Incident Notification system,  the last person shot was at 7:25 a.m. Friday. He was shot in the shoulder and is listed in good condition at Stroger Hospital.

However, as is often the case with Chicago gunfire, the victim is not cooperating with police. In the likely event that he knows who shot him, he is not telling the cops.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/multiple-injuries-in-chicago-resulted-when-guard-mistood-july-4-fireworks-for-gunfire

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Trump says his company has stopped hiring undocumented immigrants — but his former housekeeper says that’s not – New York Daily News
Trump says his company has stopped hiring undocumented immigrants — but his former housekeeper says that’s not – New York Daily News

“I’m so happy hearing him for the first time saying that he hired us. That’s really good, because if he say he use it and a lot of other companies use it, that means we need reform, that means we need to change something,” Diaz said.

Source Article from https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-trump-undocumented-immigrants-ny-nj-club-20190705-72e32fr2drekbbyau57xt6wqjm-story.html

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Trump says teleprompter to blame for claim Revolutionary War army ‘took over the airports’ | TheHill – The Hill
Trump says teleprompter to blame for claim Revolutionary War army ‘took over the airports’ | TheHill – The Hill

President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump considering executive order on citizenship question for Census US women’s soccer star Alex Morgan says verdict on Trump White House invite will be team decision China renews demands that US lift all tariffs for trade deal MORE said Friday that a teleprompter malfunction was to blame for remarks he made during his Fourth of July address Thursday, in which he mistakenly claimed Revolutionary War soldiers “took over airports” in 1775. 

Trump told reporters on Friday that the teleprompter malfunctioned after coming in contact with rain during his Independence Day speech in Washington prompting him to stumble over his words. 

“Actually right in the middle of that sentence, it went out,” Trump told reporters Friday, according to The Boston Globe. “And that’s not a good feeling, when you’re standing in front of millions and millions of people on television.”

Reading from his teleprompter during a rainstorm on Thursday, Trump said: “The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter at Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.” 

“And at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory,” he continued.

His mistake went viral across Twitter after many noted that the first successful airplane flight by the Wright Brothers did not occur until 1903.

The flub also prompted the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories to trend online Thursday night.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/451776-trump-says-teleprompter-to-blame-for-claim-revolutionary-war-army

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Trump DOJ tells court administration is still exploring options to add citizenship question to 2020 census – Fox News
Trump DOJ tells court administration is still exploring options to add citizenship question to 2020 census – Fox News
Video

Executive order on 2020 census would be a challenge for Trump, Fox News legal analyst says

President Trump will face some ‘significant challenges’ from Congress if he goes forward with an executive order to put a citizenship question on the 2020 census, Fox News legal analyst Mercedes Colwin says.

The Justice Department indicated Friday it will still pursue options to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census despite a court setback, as President Trump said he is considering using an executive order as one of several options.

The Supreme Court ruled last week the administration had failed to articulate an adequate explanation for the push, essentially scuttling efforts to immediately add the question to the census forms. The administration, though, had given mixed signals about its plans, and federal Judge George Hazel of Maryland had ordered government lawyers to respond by Friday afternoon about their intentions.

TRUMP FLOATS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO GET CITIZENSHIP QUESTION ON 2020 CENSUS

The judge on Friday morning held a conference call with the parties where the Justice Department indicated it would continue the legal fight. In its filing with the court, DOJ lawyers said the department will explore a “new rationale” for including the question.

“The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Commerce have been asked to reevaluate all available options following the Supreme Court’s decision and whether the Supreme Court’s decision would allow for a new decision to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census,” the filing said.

“In the event the Commerce Department adopts a new rationale for including the citizenship question on the 2020 Decennial Census consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Government will immediately notify this Court so that it can determine whether there is any need for further proceedings or relief. “

Trump told reporters Friday he is “very seriously considering” an executive order to mandate the addition of the question, saying he had spoken to Attorney General William Barr earlier in the day. Trump said he was weighing four or five options.

Video

“We can do the printing now and maybe do an addendum after we get a positive decision [from the Supreme Court],” he said.

“Think about it, $15-20 billion [on a census] and you’re not allowed to ask if someone’s a citizen,” he said

DEROY MURDOCK: TRUMP BOTCHES CITIZENSHIP QUESTION WITH TOO MUCH LAWYERING AND TOO LITTLE EXPLANATION

Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday had initially conceded defeat, indicating the process for printing the census without that question had already begun. But the president quickly weighed in, tweeting Wednesday, “We are absolutely moving forward,” creating initial confusion and a scramble among Trump officials to meet the president’s demands.

Any executive order would almost certainly be challenged in court and would restart the litigation process all over again.

Hazel is overseeing a lawsuit filed by groups opposed to the question, who claimed in recent weeks the government misled the courts over the true reason for proposing the citizenship question. The judge had earlier indicated he was prepared to move ahead with the case over whether the administration sought a political advantage by adding the question. Justice Department lawyers say the effort was to ensure voting rights enforcement, but groups opposed to its inclusion say it would lead to an undercount of millions of immigrants and minorities, especially in urban areas.

The lawsuit in Maryland is related to an appeal decided by the Supreme Court on June 27.  There, a coalition of states led by New York, along with several cities and civil liberties groups, brought the legal challenge, with a 5-4 high court ruling in their favor.

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Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court’s four more liberal members, concluded the administration’s current justification for adding the questions “seems to have been contrived.”

A federal court in California is also deciding the issue.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-still-exploring-options-to-add-citizenship-question-to-2020-census

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Powerful Southern California earthquake triggers fears of the ‘Big One’ – NBC News
Powerful Southern California earthquake triggers fears of the ‘Big One’ – NBC News

The strong earthquake that jolted Southern California on the Fourth of July and could be felt from the Pacific Coast to Las Vegas has frayed residents’ nerves and left many wondering if the worst is yet to come.

The 6.4 magnitude temblor — the most powerful to shake the region in 20 years — comes after a relatively calm stretch of seismic activity. But scenes Thursday morning of people taking cover, objects tumbling off shelves and walls, and roadways cracked have punctuated fears that at any moment, the “Big One” could strike.

A series of aftershocks, including one early Friday at a magnitude 5.4, wasn’t helping to soothe anxieties.

In the wake of the powerful quake, which caused damage but no serious injuries, scientists say its occurrence isn’t moving the needle with respect to the “Big One” — but they considered the possibility of an earthquake of at least a 7.8 magnitude along the southern San Andreas Fault, which slices through California like a scar.

“This earthquake does not make the ‘Big One’ anymore likely or any less likely,” Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology’s seismology lab, said at a news conference Thursday.

In a tweet prior to the earthquake, Jones said the “real probability” of a monster event is about 2 percent per year or 1/20,000th each day.

It remains difficult for scientists to predict when a massive earthquake could hit, but models have indicated that there is a “small chance” that one the size of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, of a 7.9 magnitude, could happen in the next 30 years, according to the Geological Survey.

Following an earthquake, aftershocks are common, and Jones said more than 80 have popped off after Thursday’s initial quake in the Mojave Desert, close to the small town of Ridgecrest and about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Seismologists have said that in the next week, there’s a 9 percent chance that an earthquake larger than a 6.4 magnitude could reverberate through the region, and an 80 percent chance of one that’s at least a 5.0 magnitude.

Two faults were involved in Thursday’s quake, but not the San Andreas, which is more than 100 miles away and in recent years was the subject of a Hollywood doomsday blockbuster.

Seismologists say the “Big One” would be 125 times stronger than Thursday’s earthquake and 44 times stronger than the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which killed 57 people and caused $49 billion in economic losses.

This latest quake was the strongest in the region since a 7.1 temblor hit in October 1999, about 32 miles north of the High Desert community of Joshua Tree.

This one was felt over such a wide area because it was shallow, only about 5 or 6 miles deep, according to the Southern California Earthquake Center.

California’s new ShakeAlert system detected the quake although it didn’t set off a public warning in Los Angeles County via a smartphone app. Users are supposed to be alerted to earthquakes of at least a 5.5 magnitude, but by the time it rolled through Los Angeles, it was less than that, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told NBC Los Angeles.

He said that officials would work to lower the threshold for triggering an alert “as long as we can do it in a way that doesn’t create mass hysteria.”

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/powerful-southern-california-earthquake-triggers-fears-big-one-n1026896

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MacKenzie Lueck’s body found in Logan Canyon – KOMO News
MacKenzie Lueck’s body found in Logan Canyon – KOMO News
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Trump faults rain, teleprompter for flub about ‘airports’ during American Revolution – USA TODAY
Trump faults rain, teleprompter for flub about ‘airports’ during American Revolution – USA TODAY

During his July 4th speech, President Trump had a few historical inaccuracies.
USA TODAY

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/05/donald-trump-faults-teleprompter-airports-revolution-flub/1657077001/

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Trump says teleprompter to blame for claim Revolutionary War army ‘took over the airports’ | TheHill – The Hill
Trump says teleprompter to blame for claim Revolutionary War army ‘took over the airports’ | TheHill – The Hill

President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump considering executive order on citizenship question for Census US women’s soccer star Alex Morgan says verdict on Trump White House invite will be team decision China renews demands that US lift all tariffs for trade deal MORE said Friday that a teleprompter malfunction was to blame for remarks he made during his Fourth of July address Thursday, in which he mistakenly claimed Revolutionary War soldiers “took over airports” in 1775. 

Trump told reporters on Friday that the teleprompter malfunctioned after coming in contact with rain during his Independence Day speech in Washington prompting him to stumble over his words. 

“Actually right in the middle of that sentence, it went out,” Trump told reporters Friday, according to The Boston Globe. “And that’s not a good feeling, when you’re standing in front of millions and millions of people on television.”

Reading from his teleprompter during a rainstorm on Thursday, Trump said: “The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter at Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.” 

“And at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory,” he continued.

His mistake went viral across Twitter after many noted that the first successful airplane flight by the Wright Brothers did not occur until 1903.

The flub also prompted the hashtag #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories to trend online Thursday night.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/451776-trump-says-teleprompter-to-blame-for-claim-revolutionary-war-army

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With Flyovers and Flags, Trump Plays M.C. for the Fourth – The New York Times
With Flyovers and Flags, Trump Plays M.C. for the Fourth – The New York Times

The president’s supporters flocked to the event despite the oppressive heat and at-times heavy rain, delivering for Mr. Trump the kind of tableau he wanted for the cameras, filling almost all of the open spaces around the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial.

But many in the crowd seemed puzzled by the speech, in which Mr. Trump made no mention of congressional Democrats or Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the Russia investigation, or any of his presidential rivals — his usual targets at his rallies. In that way, the White House made good on its promise, having said Mr. Trump would avoid giving an overtly political speech.

Instead, the president — who never served in the armed forces and was deferred in the draft during the Vietnam War because of bone spurs in his heels — took a sometimes rambling trip through America’s military history, recounting with reverence the early beginnings of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

Many military families who received invitations to a V.I.P. section close to the president’s stage appeared to all but ignore the usual understanding that members of the armed forces should not engage in partisan political activity. Many wore Trump’s MAGA hats and openly campaigned for Trump’s re-election, chanting, “Four more years.”

Before Mr. Trump’s arrival, supporters of the president huddled in the V.I.P. section under trees to escape a long downpour while the Marine Corps Band played a medley of patriotic songs, including “God Bless America.” Brief cheers of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” came from the military crowd pressed along the fence line.

Daniel P. Cortez, 68, of Stafford, Va., who was wounded in Vietnam as a Marine infantryman, sat in the V.I.P. section waiting for the president. Mr. Cortez, who works at a group that helps veterans deal with judicial issues, said he received an invitation from the White House on Monday.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/us/politics/trump-4th-july.html

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American Billionaire Among 7 People Killed In Bahamas Helicopter Crash – NPR
American Billionaire Among 7 People Killed In Bahamas Helicopter Crash – NPR

Chris Cline poses for a portrait in a coal mine in Carlinville, Ill., in 2010. The coal magnate was on a helicopter that crashed in the waters off Grand Cay, Bahamas, on Thursday, killing all seven people onboard.

Bloomberg via Getty Images


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Bloomberg via Getty Images

Chris Cline poses for a portrait in a coal mine in Carlinville, Ill., in 2010. The coal magnate was on a helicopter that crashed in the waters off Grand Cay, Bahamas, on Thursday, killing all seven people onboard.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Updated at 4:58 p.m. ET

Chris Cline, a billionaire who made his fortune in the American coal business, died Thursday in a helicopter crash in the Bahamas that killed all seven people on board.

Cline, 60, and his daughter Kameron were both on the aircraft when it went down, Cline’s attorney told multiple media outlets. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice tweeted late Thursday that “I lost a very close friend.”

The Cline family, through an attorney, called Chris Cline “one of West Virginia’s strongest sons, an American original, full of grit, integrity, intelligence and humor, a testament that our hopes and dreams are achievable when we believe and commit ourselves to action.”

“Our sister, Kameron was a bright light to all who knew her, loving, smart, compassionate and full of joy and enthusiasm for life and other people,” the statement said. “Their legacy of love and inspiration will live on through all of us. We love and miss them dearly but take comfort knowing they are with God now. We ask for prayers and privacy in our time of grieving.”

The helicopter crashed after departing the island of Grand Cay around 2 a.m. ET en route to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., about 130 miles away, the Royal Bahamas Police force said in a statement to NPR.

About 12 hours passed from takeoff before the aircraft was reported missing to the Bahamian authorities around 2:50 p.m., police said. The aircraft was later found overturned in 16 feet of water about two miles from where it took off.

Bahamanian officials said they retrieved all seven bodies, four female and three male. They did not announce the names or nationalities of the victims.

It’s not clear what caused the helicopter to crash or whether it issued a distress signal. The bodies have been moved to the capital in Nassau for official identification, according to The Associated Press.

“I still can’t believe it,” Cline’s brother, Greg Cline, told The Palm Beach Post. “We were so close, all of us were.” He added that his niece Kameron was a recent graduate of LSU.

Chris Cline’s attorney tweeted that his client never forgot his humble roots despite amassing tremendous wealth. “A billionaire, he never lost touch with the days he lived in a double wide and used a blow dryer to thaw his winter pipes,” Brian Glasser said.

Cline began his career at a young age toiling underground as a coal miner in West Virginia, like his father and grandfather before him.

In 1990, he formed the Cline Group, which grew to comprise coal mines in the Appalachian region and later the Illinois Basin. Cline founded Foresight Energy in 2006. Nearly a decade later, the man nicknamed “The King of Coal” sold his controlling stake for $1.4 billion, Forbes reports.

In March, the magazine put Cline’s net worth at $1.8 billion.

A prominent Republican donor and philanthropist, Cline contributed $1 million to President Trump’s 2017 inauguration, according to OpenSecrets, a project of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. It also lists Cline as a top individual contributor to GOP candidates in 2016.

Cline took a special philanthropic interest in his home state of West Virginia. He established The Cline Family Foundation, which in 2011 gave $5 million to West Virginia University to endow a chair in orthopedic surgery and build a basketball practice facility. Later that year, the group announced another $5 million donation, to Cline’s alma mater Marshall University for sports medicine research.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/07/05/738894705/american-billionaire-among-7-people-killed-in-bahamas-helicopter-crash

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Justice Department to tell court it is looking at options to add citizenship question to census – CNN
Justice Department to tell court it is looking at options to add citizenship question to census – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/05/politics/census-citizenship-question-deadline-donald-trump/index.html

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California earthquake: Map shows unusual number of aftershocks – The Mercury News
California earthquake: Map shows unusual number of aftershocks – The Mercury News

The strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in nearly 20 years prompted one city to declare a state of emergency Thursday, and shook residents from Las Vegas to Orange County.

The quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, was centered near Ridgecrest, a high-desert community about 150 miles north of Los Angeles.

At least 159 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or greater were recorded after the earthquake, according to USGS Seismologist Robert Graves. It is a higher than normal number, but not unprecedented, he said. The largest of them were magnitude 4.6.

Noted seismologist Lucy Jones called it a “robust” series and said there is a 50 percent chance of another large quake in the next week.

Jones said there is a 1 in 20 chance that a bigger earthquake will hit within the next few days. “It’s certain that this area is going to be shaking a lot today, and some of those aftershocks will probably exceed magnitude 5.”

Jones said the quake, named the Searles Valley Quake, was preceded by a magnitude 4.2 foreshock.

Ridgecrest has announced a state of emergency, Mayor Peggy Breeden said. As the mayor spoke to CNN earlier in the day, an aftershock interrupted the interview.

“As I understand, we have five fires,” the mayor said. “We have broken gas lines.”

Footage from Ridgecrest showed firefighters hosing down flames rising from homes.

There were also power outages in the city of 28,000 residents. The forecasted high temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the National Weather Service said.

In Kern County, at the epicenter, the fire department responded to more than 20 incidents relating to the earthquake and aftershocks, including fires and medical emergencies, according to a tweet on its verified account.

Ridgecrest Regional Hospital was evacuated. About 15 patients from the emergency room were taken to another hospital, and inspectors were going through the facility to determine whether it was safe to bring the other patients in from the tented areas outside.

April Rodriguez was at home in Trona when she felt a smaller quake followed by a larger one “that didn’t stop,” she told CNN.

“We were panicked trying to get out of the house because everything is falling out of the cabinets, off the shelves, off the walls. … They were flying like missiles off the shelves.”

Kimberly Washburn was directing a children’s July Fourth program in Ridgecrest when the earthquake shook the building, starling the 65 children on stage.

With their parents in the auditorium seats, the kids began screaming.

“It was terrifying,” she said.

One boy was injured when something fell on his foot, but Washburn said they were blessed that more weren’t hurt. After they evacuated, a wall fell behind where the children had been performing, she said.

In Los Angeles, the main temblor was felt as a long, rolling quake, and buildings rocked back and forth. Many in the city noted how much longer this earthquake felt than most.

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay tweeted, “Been living in Los Angeles all my life. That was the longest earthquake I’ve ever experienced. Not jerky. Smooth and rolling. But it was loooong. It was so long I thought for the first time ever, ‘Is this the big one?’ Damn. Respect Mother Nature. She’s the boss.”

Many residents were upset because the city’s one-of-a-kind smartphone app didn’t send a warning in advance. Afterward, city authorities said they would change the parameters on the application to issue alerts for smaller quakes.

The rolling ground caused Disneyland officials to temporarily shut down rides.

The National Weather Service tweeted that the earthquake was also felt in Las Vegas.

It was the largest quake to hit Southern California since 1999, when a 7.1 earthquake struck in a remote part of the Mojave desert.

In 1994, at least 57 people died when a 6.7 earthquake hit the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, causing $25 billion in damage.

The-CNN-Wire
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Source Article from https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/07/05/california-earthquake-map-shows-unusual-number-of-aftershocks/

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Critics slam Trump’s "Salute to America" – CBS Evening News
Critics slam Trump’s "Salute to America" – CBS Evening News

President Trump promised the “show of a lifetime” with his Fourth of July celebration “Salute to America.” But critics say the president is playing politics on a holiday that typically brings Americans together. Weijia Jiang reports.

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Source Article from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRU6Lv6xqno

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Trump donor from West Virginia among 7 Americans killed in copter crash in Bahamas, officials say – Fox News
Trump donor from West Virginia among 7 Americans killed in copter crash in Bahamas, officials say – Fox News
Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for July 5

Fox News Flash top headlines for July 5 are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com

A billionaire coal executive from West Virginia was among seven Americans killed in a helicopter crash near the Bahamas while traveling back to Florida on the Fourth of July, reports said.

Chris Cline, who was also a donor to President Trump, died a day before his 61st birthday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice told the Register-Herald, a newspaper in Beckley, W. Va.

“Today we lost a WV superstar and I lost a very close friend,” Justice wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Our families go back to the beginning of the Cline empire – Pioneer Fuel. Chris Cline built an empire and on every occasion was always there to give. What a wonderful, loving, and giving man.”

Chris Cline, who was also a donor to President Trump, died a day before his 61st birthday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice told the Register-Herald, a newspaper in Beckley, W. Va.
(chrsicline.org)

Cline’s daughter Kamie Conover was also among those killed, according to reports.

AIR PASSENGER DECLARES HE’S GOD, STORMS COCKPIT TO ‘END TERRORISM’; FLIGHT GROUNDED: REPORTS

The helicopter was heading to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when it crashed about two miles off the coast of Grand Cay island in the Bahamas, according to reports. The three women and four men aboard were all Americans, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement without releasing the names of the victims.

Cline made his fortune revamping Illinois’ coal industry, Bloomberg reported. Born in a West Virginia town of only 200 residents, Cline began working as a miner at age 22. He founded the Cline Group to mine coal in the hills of Appalachia before starting Foresight Energy LP, a joint venture with Robert Murray’s Murray Energy Corp., to expand into Illinois and Missouri. Foresight Energy LP was worth $2.6 billion at its peak.

Cline contributed $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017. Before Trump was elected president, Cline originally donated to a different Republican — Jeb Bush — making a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Bush’s campaign.

Cline was also a philanthropist and donated $5 million to his alma mater, Marshall University, for its sports medicine program.

WITNESSES OF NYC HELICOPTER CRASH SHARE VIDEOS, PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE

“Our hearts are heavy with the terrible news this evening of the passing of prominent Son of Marshall Chris Cline,” Marshall University President Jerome A. “Jerry” Gilbert wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Chris’s generosity to our research and athletics programs has made a mark on Marshall University. I am praying for his family.”

Civil aviation authorities are conducting an investigation into the cause of the crash.

In addition to Cline’s daughter, other victims included David Jude, Delaney Wykle, two unidentified friends and an unidentified helicopter mechanic from Florida, the Bahamas Press reported.

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Cline reportedly dated Swedish model Elin Nordegren, who was previously married to golfer Tiger Woods.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/world/west-virginia-coal-tycoon-trump-donor-dies-with-six-other-americans-in-bahamas-plane-crash-on-fourth-of-july-reports

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Trump sings praises of American exceptionalism in elaborate July 4 salute – Fox News
Trump sings praises of American exceptionalism in elaborate July 4 salute – Fox News
Video

‘Salute to America’ Part 1: President Trump pays tribute to nation’s ‘extraordinary heritage’

Trump addresses the nation from the Lincoln Memorial, tells Americans that they are part of one of the greatest stories ever told: the story of America.

With the Lincoln Memorial in the background and flanked on both sides by camouflaged Bradley fighting vehicles, President Trump used his “Salute to America” speech Thursday evening to praise the men and women of the Armed Forces and American exceptionalism.

Despite concerns from Democrats that he would use the Fourth of July event as a virtual campaign rally, Trump struck a largely nonpartisan tone during an address that paid tribute to the military by telling its history from the days of America’s founding – praising the spirit that “runs through the veins of every American patriot.”

“Today, we come together as one nation with this very special Salute to America,” a smiling Trump said. “We celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend our flag — the brave men and women of the United States military.”

‘SALUTE TO AMERICA’ CRITICS FUELED BY ‘HATE FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP’: KAYLEIGH MCENANY

From George Washington leading the Continental Army to the Apollo 11 moon landing, Trump rattled off a list of American accomplishments and inventions in the name of freedom, while slipping in a boast about his administration’s accomplishments.

“Americans love our freedom and no one will ever take it away from us,” Trump said to chants of “U-S-A.” “Our nation is stronger today than it ever was before, it is stronger now, stronger than ever.”

Video

The president took the audience, on this rainy day in Washington, through the history of the Armed Forces, telling tales of valor on foreign soil in gripping detail.

“Together we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told — the story of America,” Trump said. “It is the epic tale of a great nation whose people have risked everything for what they know is right.”

“We’re Americans. Nothing is impossible,” Trump said.

Trump followed his speech with an individual honor to each branch of the U.S. military — Coast Guard, Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines.

DEMS FUME AS TRUMP MOVES TO AMEND DC’S JULY 4 CELEBRATION

Despite the cloudy skies, Trump’s speech was punctuated by flyovers by military aircraft ranging from the Air Forces F-22 Raptors and B-2 Stealth Bomber to the Navy’s F-18 Super Hornets and Army Apache helicopters.

“Today, just as it did 243 years ago, the future of American Freedom rests on the shoulders of men and women willing to defend it,” Trump said. “As long as we stay true to our cause — as long as we remember our great history — and as long as we never stop fighting for a better future—then there will be nothing that America cannot do.”

“We will never forget that we are Americans, and the future belongs to us,” he said. “We share one home, one heart and we are all made by one almighty God.”

Trump’s speech was capped off with a performance by the Navy Blue Angels flight team.

While Trump’s speech set a unifying tone, the lead-up to the event was marked by controversy – with Trump’s opponents slamming him on everything from the cost of the event to the perceived exploitation of the holiday for a political purpose.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who is among the lawmakers overseeing the Interior Department, which has jurisdiction over the National Mall and federal parks, said it was “absolutely outrageous” that the administration will use park money to help defray Thursday’s event costs. The National Park Service plans to use nearly $2.5 million intended to help improve parks nationwide, The Washington Post reported late Tuesday, citing anonymous sources.

“These fees are not a slush fund for this administration to use at will,” McCollum said in a statement. She promised a congressional hearing.

Video

Two outside groups, the National Parks Conservation Foundation and Democracy Forward, want the department’s internal watchdog to investigate what they say may be a “potentially unlawful decision to divert” national parks money to Trump’s “spectacle.”

Former high-ranking members of the Armed Forces also weighed on Trump’s celebration, with retired U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey – a frequent critic of the president – calling the “Salute to America” “narcissistic” and that it will set up “another vile political fight.”

“He’s turning it into a “narcissistic display for his own purpose,” McCaffrey said on MSNBC on Wednesday. “It undoubtedly is a political event which makes everyone uneasy in the Pentagon.”

Video

Trump defended the cost of the event on Wednesday, tweeting that cost “will be very little compared to what it is worth.”

“We own the planes, we have the pilots, the airport is right next door (Andrews), all we need is the fuel,” he said, referring to Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews, home for some of the planes that are to fly over the Mall on Thursday. “We own the tanks and all. Fireworks are donated by two of the greats.”

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Washington has held an Independence Day celebration for decades, featuring a parade along Constitution Avenue, a concert on the Capitol lawn with music by the National Symphony Orchestra and fireworks beginning at dusk near the Washington Monument.

Trump altered the lineup by adding his speech, moving the fireworks closer to the Lincoln Memorial and summoning the tanks and warplanes.

Video

Trump originally wanted a parade with military tanks and other machinery rolling through downtown Washington ever since he was enthralled by a two-hour procession of French military tanks and fighter jets in Paris on Bastille Day in July 2017. Later that year, Trump said he’d have a similar parade in Washington on the Fourth of July 2018, and would “top” the Paris show.

The event ended up being pushed to Veterans Day, which conflicted with one of Trump’s trips abroad, before it was scuttled after cost estimates exceeding $90 million were made public.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-sings-praises-of-american-exceptionalism-in-elaborate-july-4-salute

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Nike’s pathetic Colin Kaepernick bungle turned Betsy Ross flag into racist symbol – New York Post
Nike’s pathetic Colin Kaepernick bungle turned Betsy Ross flag into racist symbol – New York Post

Nike is doing it wrong.

I don’t mean the shoemaking, though that thing with Zion Williamson was pretty bad, I have to say.

No, Nike is doing it wrong because it managed to do something that all the neo-Nazis, Klansmen, alt-righters and other denizens of the lowest coprophagic phylum of our political life could never do: It turned the Betsy Ross flag into a racist symbol.

By now you’ve probably heard that Nike decided to take the advice of Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who ignited so much controversy by refusing to stand for the national anthem. Nike was all set to release a line of sneakers for the Fourth of July featuring the original Betsy Ross American flag with 13 stars in a circle.

According to reports, Kaepernick took offense because a handful of extremist groups like to brandish the original American flag to make some sort of point about something no one should care about. (I gather it has something to do with how this was “their” country before the federal government was formed. Or maybe, like many gibbons, they just like the sparkly stars and bright colors.)

The thing is, most Americans — and when I say most, I mean, like, nearly all of them — had no idea white supremacists were doing this. In countless news stories, reporters contacted experts who either didn’t know about it or were only vaguely aware that this is one of the things these groups like to wear as capes during dress-up time.

“If all these historians didn’t know [the relationship between white supremacy and the Betsy Ross flag], then Nike shouldn’t be expected to know it,” Mary Beth Norton, an American history professor at Cornell University, told CNBC.

 

Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid kneel in protest during the national anthem in 2016.Getty Images

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism has a database with more than 150 “hate symbols.” The Betsy Ross flag isn’t among them.

“The Betsy Ross flag is a common historical flag,” Mark Pitcavage of the ADL told CNBC. While it’s been used by white supremacists “from time to time,” he has “never once thought about” adding the Betsy Ross flag to the list.

Nonetheless, it’s true that if you search through enough old photos of Klan rallies and neo-Nazi pageants, you can spot a Betsy Ross flag from time to time.

Do you know what else you can probably spot if you look long and hard enough? Nike sneakers. Does that make Nikes symbols of white supremacy?

Of course not. But what if these groups started wearing T-shirts with the Nike “swoosh” on them?

Frankly, I think it would be a brilliant move by these hate groups to do just that. Nike would freak out, giving these attention-seekers a bonanza in free publicity.

Innocuous or even noble symbols can be appropriated for evil purposes. The swastika is an ancient symbol in various Asian cultures. It was adopted in Europe as a symbol of good luck until the Nazis made it their own. The KKK’s pointy hoods may have been inspired by the Catholic capirote of medieval Spain and Portugal, which looks dismayingly similar.

But here’s the thing: When evil people acquire symbols for their own ends, the only guarantee of success is when everyone else validates the acquisition.

If Nike had gone ahead with the special-edition sneakers, it would have been, in marketing terms, the equivalent of Godzilla versus Bambi. A few neo-Nazis and a few more social justice warriors would have complained, and everyone else would have gone about their day totally unconcerned.

Instead, Nike followed the advice of a man whose business model is to stir grievance and controversy for its own sake. Suddenly, millions of people who once thought the Betsy Ross flag was just an admirable bit of Americana now associate it with hate groups. Worse, other entirely decent and patriotic Americans will now likely start brandishing the flag to offend people who, until recently, had no idea some hate groups adopted the flag in the first place.

The ranks of the perpetually offended will misread this trolling-to-own-the-libs effort as an endorsement of hate speech, and the culture war will have yet another idiotic fight on its hands, and a symbol of the country’s founding that should be a uniting image for all Americans will now be reduced to a weapon in that war.

Thanks a lot, Nike.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2019/07/04/nikes-pathetic-colin-kaepernick-bungle-turned-betsy-ross-flag-into-racist-symbol/

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Kamala Harris is the most cynical and dishonest 2020 Democrat — and it just might work – Washington Examiner
Kamala Harris is the most cynical and dishonest 2020 Democrat — and it just might work – Washington Examiner

Sen. Kamala Harris has emerged as the most cynical and dishonest candidate seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination. But it just might work.

Most recently, Harris has surged toward the top of the crowded Democratic field after a masterful debate performance in which she seemingly took two bold stands: Backing the elimination of private health insurance and supporting federal mandated busing.

On healthcare, she obfuscated the next morning, retreating to her red herring position that emphasizes allowing for private “supplemental” coverage. In reality, the plan would kick 180 million people off of their current private insurance plans and place them on a single government-run plan, and would only allow insurers to offer benefits not on the government plan. But the government plan promises comprehensive medical, dental, optical, and prescription drug coverage, so in reality there would be effectively no role for private insurance.

On busing, Harris attacked Biden during the debate for opposing federally forced busing in the 1970s. “Well, there was a failure of states to integrate public schools in America,” she argued and said, “that’s where the federal government must step in.”

When New York Times reporter Astead Herndon asked on Twitter, “Does Harris support busing for school integration right now?” her spokesman Ian Sams answered “yes.”

Then, when Harris herself was asked in a gaggle of reporters, “What is your position on busing and what do you think the federal role should be?” She responded, “I support busing. Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated today than when I was in elementary school. And we need to put every effort, including busing, into desegregate the schools…” She went on to call busing “one of the ways by which we can create desegregation.” When reporters again followed up by asking her about the federal role, she said, “The federal government has to step up.”

Yet in Iowa on Wednesday, Harris shifted, merely saying “Busing is a tool among many that should be considered” by school districts, but not actually mandated by the federal government.

So Harris milked the issue for what it was worth at the time. It was the MacGuffin that allowed her to reduce Biden to an out-of-touch doddering old man, while she came off as tough and was able to throw in an inspirational personal story of being bused to school. Allahpundit predicted that Harris would “chuck this issue into the ocean within eight seconds of clinching the nomination.” But it turned out she casually tossed it in the Des Moines River once she got her polling bounce.

Being so brazenly dishonest has proven both an asset and liability in presidential politics, when leading candidates undergo more scrutiny than running for any other office.

Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton were both calculating liars, and that contributed to their 2008 primary losses, as well as their respective losses in the 2012 and 2016 general elections. Of course, there are many examples in the opposite direction. Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton was a routine liar and mostly managed to pull it off during his political career — at least electorally.

President Trump is a brazen and shameless liar. His healthcare statements while running for president were totally incoherent and he casually made up facts. He made promises everybody knew were unattainable, such as Mexico paying for his border wall and boasting that he would pay off the federal debt within eight years while dramatically cutting taxes, boosting military spending, and not touching entitlements. Yet he won.

A reason for that could be that Clinton and Romney were in many ways standard lying politicians who took positions based on what would be most politically beneficial at a given time and came off as inauthentic (though Clinton was more corrupt).

In contrast, Trump’s often long and meandering campaign speeches actually came off as unrehearsed and natural. He was willing to dig in on controversial positions unapologetically. He challenged the orthodoxy of the Republican Party on trade, immigration, and foreign policy so he didn’t come off as pandering, even though he reversed his old liberal positions on abortion, guns, taxes, and healthcare. His base supporters thought he “told it like it is” and were distrustful of the media and thus any fact checks. And actual media errors just provided Trump with more justification.

As of the early stages, it’s difficult to know exactly how Harris’ strategy will play out. Opponents could use it to portray her as shifty and unreliable. On the other hand, at a time when the number one priority for Democrats is finding a candidate who could defeat Trump, primary voters may decide they don’t want somebody who plays by the rules. Harris’ ability to change positions on a dime based on the venue, lie, and obfuscate shamelessly may make them think she’s just the person to counter Trump’s mendacity. Once she gets into the general election, her supporters could then just dismiss any lies or further calculated moves by contrasting them with Trump’s chronic dishonesty.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/kamala-harris-is-the-most-cynical-and-dishonest-2020-democrat-and-it-just-might-work

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