Connect with us

Obama Goes To Red Cross To Thank Them. Romney Tells Red Cross To Break Their Rules For His Campaign.

Published

on

President Barack Obama yesterday afternoon went to the headquarters of the Red Cross to thank them for their efforts in the face of the largest hurricane the East Coast has ever seen: Hurricane Sandy. As the president was thanking the Red Cross workers, Mitt Romney and his campaign were accepting donations of canned goods, blankets, an bottled water — those they hadn’t already purchased as photo op props — and forcing the Red Cross to violate their own rules and regulations, printed right on their website, that state:

Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints the Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items. Items such as collected food, used clothing and shoes must be sorted, cleaned, repackaged and transported which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel.

“This storm is not yet over,” the President said at the Red Cross. “We’ve gotten briefings from the National Hurricane Center.  It is still moving north. There are still communities that could be affected. And so I want to emphasize there are still risks of flooding, there are still risks of down power lines, risks of high winds. And so it is very important for the public to continue to monitor the situation in your local community, listen to your state and local officials, follow instructions. The more you follow instructions, the easier it is for our first responders to make sure that they are dealing with true emergency situations.”

“There are places like Newark, New Jersey, for example, where you’ve got 80, 90 percent of the people without power,” Obama added. “We can’t have a situation where that lasts for days on end.  And so my instructions to the federal agency has been, do not figure out why we can’t do something; I want you to figure out how we do something.  I want you to cut through red tape.  I want you to cut through bureaucracy.  There’s no excuse for inaction at this point.  I want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they need — where they’re needed as quickly as possible.”

READ: Photo Op: Romney Campaign Bought Supplies To Give To Red Cross Which Only Accepts Money

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney yesterday held a World War II styled “relief effort,” complete with a canned goods drive. Romney told people to donate supplies, and then told the Red Cross to accept them, despite the logistical constraints.

Initially, the Romney campaign was only going to give donations of supplies to GOP swing states, and ignore the two areas hardest hit: New Jersey and the New York City area.

The Red Cross changed Romney’s plans, and accepted supplies in to their New Jersey warehouse. The Red Cross was mum on who would be the recipients of those supplies.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=309121-1

Related:

Photo Op: Romney Campaign Bought Supplies To Give To Red Cross Which Only Accepts Money

Michael ‘Doing A Heck Of A Job Brownie’ Brown Berates Obama For ‘Jumping On’ Sandy Too Quickly

Chris Christie: President Obama ‘Has Been Great’ And ‘All Over’ Hurricane

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

After Oprah, Harris Resolves Interview Issue by Answering ‘Most Searched Questions’

Published

10 mins ago

on

September 20, 2024

By

The Harris-Walz campaign has been taking heat for its decision to not spend time doing formal interviews or press conferences with many mainstream media reporters, but instead, find other ways to reach voters that allow the Democratic presidential nominee help the electorate get to know her on her terms and in more casual settings.

Thursday night, Harris sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a “star-studded and, at times, deeply emotional 1.5-hour-long event, set up to mimic Winfrey’s former television show,” as Politico reported, that “was live streamed on multiple social platforms.”

“The armchair conversation allowed Harris to display a level of empathy for the challenges some Americans are facing while highlighting her personal bio, something she didn’t spend much time on during her debate with former President Donald Trump this month.”

READ MORE: Mark Robinson Scandal Could Bring Trump Down in ‘Reverse Coattails’ Effect: Expert

Democratic strategist Matt McDermott called it “a brilliant campaign strategy for Kamala Harris to do a sit down interview with Oprah Winfrey. Millions of Americans are watching across digital platforms in real time, meeting voters where they are.”

Evan Roth Smith, the lead pollster for Blueprint, commented on the Harris-Oprah event:

“Harris should do more of these! Just-released @Blueprint_2024 testing of her interview clips found:

– Every clip tested was viewed positively by 60%+
– Every clip moves support toward Harris
– Voters feel they know Harris better with every clip

Do more!”

READ MORE: ‘Straight Up Fascist Project’: Vance Slammed for Vowing to Call Legal Immigrants ‘Illegal’

Meanwhile, Fox News has been attacking Vice President Harris, at times daily, with reports like this one on Friday: “61 days: Kamala Harris has yet to do formal press conference since emerging as Democratic nominee.”

On Friday, WIRED published its “Autocomplete Interview” with the Democratic presidential nominee, another opportunity for Harris to sit in a less formal setting while letting voters get to know her better.

“Vice President Kamala Harris talked about her childhood, her debate with Donald Trump, her gun ownership, and the policies that define her campaign in this special edition of the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.”

WIRED calls it a “wide-ranging” interview and a “lively tour of Harris’ past and a preview of her plans for the future.”

Essentially, WIRED gave Harris large cards that look like Google search windows, and had her “respond to some of the most-searched terms about” her. “In this case, the prompts hit on her policies around reproductive rights, gun ownership, marriage equality, and more. But Harris also talks about more personal details, like her relationship with her stepchildren and her deep ties to her college sorority.”

“Most of all,” WIRED reports, “Harris took the opportunity to highlight the differences between her perspective and Donald Trump’s. ‘His vision for our country is very grounded in the past,’ she says, ‘and frankly an attempt to take us backward.'”

Watch the interview below or at this link.

READ MORE: Donald Trump Just Made One of His Most Racist Attacks Yet – and the Media Is Ignoring It

Continue Reading

News

Silence from GOP as Experts Demand Answers Amid Latest Gaetz Sex Scandal Allegations

Published

2 hours ago

on

September 20, 2024

By

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has not issued any public response to overnight bombshell reporting citing sworn court testimony alleging the Florida Republican lawmaker in 2017 attended a “drug-fueled sex party” that had at least one underaged minor present. Nor has any Republican in the House or Senate called for his resignation.

The damning report from NOTUS‘s investigative reporter Jose Pagliery reveals prosecutors have “geolocated cell phone records” that show the owner of the Florida home where the party was held “communicated constantly with the congressman that day.”

“The defense’s court filings show a hired digital forensic examiner identified Gaetz’s number, which has a Florida panhandle 850 area code and texted back and forth 30 times that day and then called Dorworth twice in the hours before the evening revelry.”

“The minor, who was a junior in high school at the time, arrived in her mother’s car for a July 15, 2017, party at the Florida home of Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist and friend of Gaetz’s, according to a court filing written by defense attorneys who interviewed witnesses as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit Dorworth brought in 2023,” NOTUS reports.

READ MORE: Mark Robinson Scandal Could Bring Trump Down in ‘Reverse Coattails’ Effect: Expert

Democratic strategist and pollster Matt McDermott remarked, “Last night we learned that Rep. Matt Gaetz was at a drug-fueled sex party in the summer of 2017 with a 17-year-old high school junior. As of this morning, not a single national Republican has called for his resignation.”

Gaetz is not in hiding — he has been tweeting from his personal account Friday morning, casually promoting what he calls “the transformation happening in El Salvador,” and attacking a fellow Republican, the junior U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, for an alleged stock purchase.

“This should be illegal,” Gaetz wrote.

Meanwhile, experts are demanding answers from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, which closed the books on its investigation into Gaetz.

“We really need to know why the DOJ decided not to criminally charge Matt Gaetz despite reports suggesting an abundance of evidence that he likely violated sex-trafficking laws,” wrote Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW). “We’re suing for records.”

Former Lincoln Project executive director Fred Wellman asked, “I want to know why this useless DOJ isn’t pursuing crimes against Gaetz? Why does Garland consistently give Republicans a pass?”

Olga Lautman, a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and researcher of organized crime and intelligence operations in Russia and Ukraine demanded to know: “Why was the Gaetz investigation dropped?”

READ MORE: ‘Straight Up Fascist Project’: Vance Slammed for Vowing to Call Legal Immigrants ‘Illegal’

That question floats amid another damning report. Congressman Gaetz reportedly had asked then-President Donald Trump for a pardon related to the DOJ’s investigation.

“An aide to former President Donald Trump testified to the House Select Committee investigating January 6 that GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida sought a preemptive presidential pardon relating to a Justice Department investigation examining whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws,” CNN reported in September of 2022, citing “a source familiar with the aide’s testimony.”

Also dropped was the first of two investigations into Gaetz’s behavior, including allegations that while on the House floor, he repeatedly showed fellow members of Congress photos and videos of nude women he said he had had sex with, CNN reported in 2021.

The Ethics Committee re-opened its investigation into Gaetz last year, and currently is looking into, as Vanity Fair reported in June, “allegations that the Florida congressman ‘engaged in…illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.’”

READ MORE: Donald Trump Just Made One of His Most Racist Attacks Yet – and the Media Is Ignoring It

 

Image via Shutterstock

Continue Reading

News

Mark Robinson Scandal Could Bring Trump Down in ‘Reverse Coattails’ Effect: Expert

Published

20 hours ago

on

September 19, 2024

By

Thursday’s bombshell revelations about North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson could not only doom his gubernatorial candidacy, but Donald Trump’s campaign as well, according to one of the most respected political experts.

According to CNN, Robinson, the current Lt. Governor who is the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, “made a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a ‘black NAZI!’ and expressed support for reinstating slavery.”

CNN’s KFile also reveals that Robinson, a far-right Christian nationalist who has targeted the LGBTQ community, “said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archived messages found in which he also referred to himself as a ‘perv.'”

On the website Nude Africa, “Robinson discussed his affinity for transgender pornography.”

READ MORE: ‘Straight Up Fascist Project’: Vance Slammed for Vowing to Call Legal Immigrants ‘Illegal’

“I like watching tranny on girl porn! That’s f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in!” Robinson wrote, according to CNN. “And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”

The article also notes that “CNN is reporting only a small portion of Robinson’s comments on the website given their graphic nature.”

Professor of politics Larry Sabato, the highly-respected political scientist and political analyst and founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Sabato’s Crystal Ball says his team has held an “emergency session” to review the report and is moving its prediction for governor of North Carolina from “Lean Democratic” to “Likely Democratic”:

“The Crystal Ball team has just met in emergency session, and in the fastest rating change in our history, we are moving NC GOVERNOR from Lean D to LIKELY D.”

READ MORE: Donald Trump Just Made One of His Most Racist Attacks Yet – and the Media Is Ignoring It

Sabato adds, “Our Crystal Ball rating for NC Governor has been Lean D. Mark Robinson (R) was going to lose even before this new story. The question is whether Robinson brings down the top of the ticket (Donald Trump) with him. Those 16 electoral votes could be the whole election.”

Asked on social media, “What kind of drag can the Gov race have on the Presidential race in NC?” Sabato replied: “Reverse coattails. It happens from time to time. Can dampen a party’s turnout.”

Trump also vociferously and enthusiastically endorsed Robinson. The Harris campaign was quick to post video of that endorsement after the scandal broke.

Political analysts have been saying North Carolina is a critical state given the current Electoral map.

“There are really only three states that will decide the presidential election: Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia,” Politico reported Thursday morning. “If Vice President Kamala Harris can’t carry Pennsylvania, her only hope is on a Southern strategy. Harris must win either Georgia or North Carolina. She has no other path to the White House.”

And if Trump “wins the East Coast trio of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, he will go back to the White House,” Politico added.

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: Yes, Republicans Are Lying — and They’re Not Going to Stop: ‘Enjoy It’

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.