Category Archives: Viva!

Trump refers to Haiti and African countries as “shithole” nations

This damn racist thug…..What will you and @GOP do about this racist bum in the Oval Office @SpeakerRyan? Your silence on this matter  will be considered condoning his hatred for black people. We are damn tired of the racist attacks on blacks and POC.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House, a Democratic aide briefed on the meeting told NBC News.

Trump’s comments were first reported by The Washington Post, which said the group of nations referred to also included El Salvador.

The comments came as senators huddled in the Oval Office with the president to discuss a path forward on an immigration deal. Trump questioned why the United States would want people from nations such as Haiti while he was being briefed on changes to the visa lottery system.

WATCH: @SenBlumenthal says Trump’s ‘shithole countries’ remark smacks of “the most odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy.”

“The President doesn’t speak for me as an American.” http://pic.twitter.com/uFQaohiNk4

— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) January 11, 2018

According to the aide, when the group came to discussing immigration from Africa, Trump asked why America would want immigrants from “all these shithole countries” and that the U.S. should have more people coming in from places like Norway. Thursday’s meeting came one day after Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House.

A source familiar with Thursday’s meeting told NBC News the president was particularly frustrated during discussions about the visa lottery system — a program Trump has railed against repeatedly in recent months. Another White House source explained the language Trump used as his way of trying to emphasize his support for a merit-based immigration system.

White House staffers predict President Trump’s “shithole countries” remark will resonate with his base, sources tell CNN’s Kaitlan Collins https://t.co/faSo4lEbyR https://t.co/YCpyvm0Uzm

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 11, 2018

The White House issued a statement that did not deny the remarks.

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told NBC Thursday, as part of a lengthy statement that did not directly dispute the language reportedly used in the meeting.

“He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”

It’s not the first time reports have surfaced of Trump speaking unfavorably about immigrants, and Haitians in particular. The New York Times reported in December that Trump said Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS,” during a summer 2017 meeting about immigration.

According to the Times, Trump also targeted Nigerian immigrants during that meeting, complaining that once they came the United States they would never “go back to their huts.” The White House vigorously denied the claims in the story at the time.

Trump Offers Vague Denial About Language on Immigrants. A Senator Who Was There Says Trump Used ‘Racist’ Words. – The New York Times

Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said on Friday that the president did use the term “shithole,” repeatedly, during the course of the meeting on immigration — which Mr. Durbin attended. The senator described Mr. Trump as saying “things which were hate-filled, vile and racist.”

Wednesday Open Thread | The cop who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice wants his job back

via 3chicspolitico

My eyes! My eyes! This can’t be real…..

The cop who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 may get his job back after nearly eight months off the force.

The Cleveland Police Department fired Officer Timothy Loehmann in May 2017, not for killing Rice, but for lying on his job application. On Wednesday, Loehmann will begin arbitration proceedings, a third-party review of his firing, according to Northeast Ohio Media Group, in hopes of getting his job back.

The Cleveland Police Department fired Loehmann after an internal review found he had lied about his past experience as a police officer, failing to disclose that he had been let go from the Independence, Ohio Police Department after they determined he was unfit to be a police officer, due to a series of bad behavior and an emotional

breakdown.

But it was the 2014 shooting that sparked large protests across the country, after Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, received a call about an African American kid who was playing with a toy gun in a Cleveland park. The 911 dispatcher failed to inform officers that the caller said the gun was “probably fake,” and Loehmann jumped out of the patrol car and fired at the 12-year-old almost instantly, killing him.

Both Garmback and Loehmann were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, though the department suspended Garmback for 10 days for his role in the shooting, a decision he appealed to an arbitrator. He is currently awaiting a decision.

A 2017 Washington Post investigation found that hundreds of officers fired for misconduct have regained their jobs thanks to arbitration.

The City of Cleveland agreed to pay Rice’s family $6 million in April 2016 to avoid a lawsuit. The city did not admit any wrongdoing.

AMERICA/UNITED STATES – Salvadorans without protection in America, the Church will not abandon separated families

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Washington – “The decision to terminate TPS for El Salvador is heartbreaking”. As detailed in our recent delegation trip report to the region, El Salvador is currently not in a position to adequately handle the return of the roughly 200,000 Salvadoran TPS recipients. Today’s decision will fragment American families, leaving over 192,000 U.S. citizen children of Salvadoran TPS recipients with uncertain futures. Families will be needlessly separated because of this decision”: with these harsh words , the US Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed its profound disagreement with the current government policy.
A statement sent to Fides, signed by Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin, Texas, Chairman of the Committee on Migration, informs that on January 8th, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it is terminating Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador.
“DHS has provided an 18-month period during which TPS recipients from El Salvador can legally stay in the United States and prepare for their departure. While we recognize and appreciate this extra time, it will not remedy the underlying protection and family unity concerns that remain for Salvadoran TPS recipients.
We renew our call to Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to find a legislative solution for long-term TPS recipients, and we stand ready to support such efforts”, continues the text.
“TPS recipients are an integral part of our communities, churches, and nation. Without action by Congress, however, recipients’ lives will be upended and many families will be devastated. As with DACA, we strongly urge Congressional members and leadership to come together and address this issue as soon as possible. To Salvadoran TPS recipients, we promise to continue to stand in solidarity with you and pray for you and your families, and all those who are displaced or forced to flee from their homes”, concludes the statement.

Julian Assange’s stay in London embassy untenable, says Ecuador

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South American country that has housed WikiLeaks founder for five years says it is seeking mediator to end impasse with UK

Ecuador’s foreign minister has said Julian Assange’s five-and-a-half-year stay in her country’s London embassy is “untenable” and should be ended through international mediation.

The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up in Knightsbridge since the summer of 2012, when he faced the prospect of extradition to Sweden over claims that he sexual assaulted two women. He denies the accusations.

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