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Touré Slams Piers Morgan Over Interview Of Trayvon’s Killer’s Brother – Full Story

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On Friday, author and critic Touré waged a very public war with CNN’s Piers Morgan over the British-born journalist’s Thursday interview of Robert Zimmerman, Jr., the brother of href=”Trayvon Martin” target=”_blank”>Trayvon Martin‘s killer, George Zimmerman.

“These are things that hurt as an American very deeply and you are too new to this situation to fully understand what’s really going on here, what’s really at stake for America,” Touré told Piers Morgan when he appeared on Morgan’s show on Friday, after being invited by Morgan, post Twitter-war.

“What a load of fatuous nonsense you speak, don’t you Touré, don’t you,” Morgan responded. You think you have the only right to speak about what’s serious in America? You don’t think I have the right as somebody from Britain who spent the last six, seven years here, to address a story like this?”

“You’re showing clearly that you don’t understand the depth of the pain in the American soul that is at play in this situation,” Touré told Morgan, adding, “You did not do a quality interview last night [with Zimmerman],” and “I’m not saying you’re taking this case lightly but there are notes, subtleties, nuances. There’s a depth of history within this that you can’t possibly understand.”

Saying Morgan looked “tone deaf,” Allison Samuels at The Daily Beast in, “Piers Morgan Vs. Touré: How the CNN Host Blew It,” called Morgan’s tweets with Touré “childish,” and “one of the most painful moments I’ve watched on primetime TV in a good while.”

But what was really disturbing about the more-than-20-minute showdown was the relative ease Morgan took in dismissing the African-American writer’s long and well-documented journalism background. Yes, Touré suggested that Morgan be professional in his initial tweet, but Morgan crossed the line by insinuating that Touré wasn’t a real journalist at all and by offering him tips on how real journalists do their jobs. That displayed a level of arrogance by Morgan that was completely uncalled for.

Those quips seemed to be all Morgan had in response to Touré’s suggestion that he didn’t fully appreciate the historical situation at hand. The writer even painfully added that after only being in the United States for seven years, Morgan could have no clue as to how deep the black-white divide actually is in this country. A fair point on many levels. The trials of blacks in Europe are based on a different set of circumstances, though the attitudes toward race and history’s consequences may be the same. African-Americans are the only group of once-enslaved people who continued to live in the area where their ancestors were held in shackles.

That creates a unique and tense dynamic for this country that is too often dismissed and misunderstood. But even more to the point, if Touré were not a serious journalist, why have him on the show in the first place? Why be so offended by a nonjournalist’s criticism when Twitter is full of such negative critiques aimed daily at the work of everyone from Don Cheadle to Lady Gaga. Jamal1 and Ray Ray23# had the same thoughts as Touré, so why not have them on for a heartfelt chat? Or better yet, debate my 78-year-old Aunt Josephine in Macon, Ga., who was also in complete agreement with Touré but just didn’t have a Twitter account to express it. (I’m setting her up with one next week.) How Aunt Josephine would relish the chance to put on her signature red lipstick and red “Sunday go-to-meeting hat” to go a round or two with Morgan on air. That would surely cement her star status as the toast of the Macon County church missionary club for years to come.

Ebony Magazine created the following Storify. Take a look at the tweets in chronological order to see what precipitated the story that everyone is talking about right now — fueled by CNN’s re-reporting and re-running it over and over and over and over…
[View the story “Toure v. Piers Morgan” on Storify]

Personally, my money is on Touré. Not because Morgan, being British, might not be able to grasp the full concert of American racism, but because Morgan is a poor excuse for a journalist. Granted, he followed in Larry King’s footsteps, but no one ever thought King a journalist. CNN raised our expectations with Morgan, and we’ve been more often than not disappointed.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2012/03/31/piers-tour-zimmerman-interview.cnn

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2012/03/31/pmt-toure.cnn

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Democrats Vow to Hold the Floor ‘All Night’ to Block Trump ‘Project 2025’ Nominee

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Senate Democrats are uniting to block — or at least delay — the confirmation process for Russ Vought, the self-describedChristian nationalist” architect of Project 2025, as President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget. To push back against his confirmation, they plan to hold the Senate floor starting Wednesday afternoon, vowing to speak “all night.”

U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI), who has urged Democrats use their power to stall Trump’s agenda, announced that “more than 35 United States senators on the Democratic side” will “take the floor for 30 hours.”

“Russ Vought is the main author of Project 2025,” Senator Schatz said. “He’s the guy that established this federal funding freeze. He is the architect of the dismantling of our federal government, harming us with Medicaid portals shut down, with Head Start shut down, with agencies illegally stormed and the servers being seized. We’ve got to fight back and we’re united, all 47 Democrats in opposition to Russ Vought’s nomination.”

“If confirmed, Russ Vought may be the most important man that no one’s ever heard of,” declared Senator Schatz on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon.

READ MORE: ‘Demagoguery’: Comer and Republicans Melt Down When Democrat Tries to Subpoena Musk

Vought has been getting some attention in the press.

“In times past, Vought — who famously asked ‘Is There Anything Actually Wrong With ‘Christian Nationalism?’’ in Newsweek in 2021 — would have been seen, and dismissed, as an over-the-top extremist well outside the boundaries of mainstream politics,” wrote Thomas B. Edsall in a New York Times opinion column on Tuesday. “Today, he is a lauded Trump loyalist on the verge of his second tour of duty with the president, in one of the most powerful posts in the federal government.”

“In Vought’s vision of the apocalyptic battle for the soul of America,” Edsall continued, “Democrats are ‘increasingly evil.’ The federal work force, in turn, is the enemy that must be forced into submission. ‘When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains,’ Vought, who is 48, declared last year. ‘We want to put them in trauma.’ ”

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune plans to have Vought confirmed this week.

Senate Homeland Security Democratic Ranking Member Gary Peters last month during Vought’s confirmation hearing told him that when he ran OMB during President Trump’s first term, “you consistently ignored laws passed by Congress that directed how taxpayer dollars should be spent.”

“In 2020, an investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that OMB, under your leadership, broke the law eight times.”

Peters said Vought “inappropriately delayed disaster relief funding for Puerto Rico following the devastation of Hurricane Maria,” and “knowingly delayed getting critical resources to communities following a disaster even after Congress passed a law specifically requiring the funds be disbursed on time.”

READ MORE: ‘Democracy Weeks Away From Disintegrating’: Democratic Senator Issues Warning — and a Plan

He also, Peters charged, “pushed for” replacing “nearly 50,000 nonpartisan, career civil servants with appointees whose only qualification was their political loyalty.”

Senate Democratic Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray has called Vought “incredibly alarming,” and one of Trump’s “anti-abortion extremists.” She noted that Vought was “the lead author of Project 2025, which called for ripping away birth control, allowing states to nigh women, lifesaving emergency care, and effectively banning all abortion nationwide.”

“He has said he wants abolition of abortion in the United States,” Murray added. “In other words, a national abortion ban without any exceptions, even in the cases of rape or when a mother’s life is at risk.”

“Vought has called to outlaw medication abortion, block funding, for Planned Parenthood, and advocated for President Trump to appoint a new special assistant in the White House to coordinate anti-abortion policies across government.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Blind to What’s Happening on His Watch’: Rubio Slammed After ‘Cheap Shot’ at Aid Groups

 

Image via Reuters 

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‘Demagoguery’: Comer and Republicans Melt Down When Democrat Tries to Subpoena Musk

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During Wednesday’s heated House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Chairman Jim Comer and his Republican colleagues blocked a vote on Democratic Ranking Member Gerry Connolly’s motion to subpoena Elon Musk. The Director of President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has been accused of systematically dismantling federal agencies one by one, while his associates have allegedly gained access to the private data of potentially millions of Americans, as well as vast amounts of federal government information—including, reportedly, some classified material.

In Wednesday’s hearing on “Rightsizing Government,” Ranking Member Connolly was quickly blocked when he attempted to subpoena the person in charge of all those efforts testify before them.

The Oversight Committee’s mission is to “ensure the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies,” according to its website. “We provide a check and balance on the role and power of Washington – and a voice to the people it serves.”

READ MORE: ‘Democracy Weeks Away From Disintegrating’: Democratic Senator Issues Warning — and a Plan

Connolly had filed formal notice on Monday requesting that Comer “invite” Elon Musk “to appear as a witness.”

“Who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement, and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight, or concurrence?” Connolly asked on Wednesday. “Mr. Chairman, given his prominence and his importance, I move that the committee subpoena Elon Musk to come to before it as a witness at the earliest possible moment.”

But Chairman Comer quickly squelched the Democrat’s motion, declaring it was “not debatable.”

A direction to “table the motion,” apparently from Comer, came, as Connolly asked, “Mr. Chairman, why don’t we want to debate Elon Musk coming in and talking to us about his work and how he’s enriched himself by 64 billion dollars?”

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) then moved to formally block the motion, sparking a chaotic exchange as members talked over one another while Comer reprimanded a Democrat he deemed “out of order.”

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) blasted Comer: “You will not even entertain a motion to bring him (Elon) in front of the Oversight Committee?”

“Yes, let’s have order in this country,” she exclaimed before adding, “Mr. Elon Musk is out of order!”

READ MORE: Dems Blocked From Entering USAID Offices: ‘Illegal and Corrupt’

Comer accused her of “demagoguery.”

U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL) wrote, “I’m in Oversight Committee right now. Ranking Member Connolly just called for a vote to subpoena Elon Musk. Republicans out-number us on this committee, but many aren’t in the room. We’ll see who wins this vote. We deserve transparency and answers.”

Just minutes later he added: “Republicans ran into the room to SHEILD Elon Musk from having to come and speak to Congress. They want their billionaire takeover done behind closed doors. The people deserve transparency. No one elected Elon Musk.”

Responding to a video of the event Connolly wrote: “You read that right – blocked without debate. If Republicans are such big fans of Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of our government, why are they so afraid to hear from him? Because they know you, the American people, aren’t gonna like what he has to say.”

“They will stop at nothing to cover up Elon Musk’s lawlessness,” he added.

In a press release, Chairman Comer accused Democrats of “hyperventilating and sensationalizing the Trump Administration’s efforts to advance necessary reforms,” while he vowed to “continue working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on solutions to make federal operations more efficient and effective for all Americans.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Blind to What’s Happening on His Watch’: Rubio Slammed After ‘Cheap Shot’ at Aid Groups

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‘Democracy Weeks Away From Disintegrating’: Democratic Senator Issues Warning — and a Plan

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As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attempt to systematically dismantle the United States government, agency by agency, they are working to eliminate vast numbers of employees, removing public data and institutional knowledge, and reportedly accessing sensitive government records and personal information of American citizens. In response, many grassroots Democratic voters are demanding to know what their party’s elected leaders are doing to stop them.

There appears to be a growing sense among some on the left that top elected Democrats are out of touch, unable or unwilling to grasp the severity of what some say is a constitutional crisis and others are simply calling a “coup.”

And while a few House and Senate Democrats this week showed up at the Washington, D.C. offices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and were denied access, and others held a press conference, few elected Democrats appear to have understood this extremely volatile moment — or at least publicly communicated what is actually going on.

RELATED: Dems Blocked From Entering USAID Offices: ‘Illegal and Corrupt’

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) has been leading the battle against President Trump and his director of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk.

For the uninitiated, here’s how The Washington Post summed up recent events on Tuesday.

“U.S. government officials privately warn Musk’s blitz appears illegal,” the headline reads. “The billionaire’s DOGE team has launched an all-out assault on federal agencies, triggering numerous legal objections.”

“Over the past two weeks, Musk’s team has moved to dismantle some U.S. agencies, push out hundreds of thousands of civil servants and gain access to some of the federal government’s most sensitive payment systems,” The Post reported. The paper noted that “many of these moves appear to violate federal law, according to more than two dozen current and former officials, one audio recording, and several internal messages obtained by The Washington Post. Internal legal objections have been raised at the Treasury Department, the Education Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the White House budget office, among others.”

Financial Times’ columnist Ed Luce, on MSNBC Wednesday morning, put this moment in starker terms.

“This is a coup that’s happening. It is happening here. It’s happening now,” he declared, as Mediaite reported. “So I think this requires a far more radical and drastic sort of rethink of what the Democrats’ democratic strategy should be.”

On Tuesday morning, Senator Murphy spoke with MSNBC political analyst Anand Giridharadas, who praised him as a “real leader” who started “early” in the Trump-Musk battle.

Giridharadas said that “the Democrats’ transition from being asleep during a coup to being awake during a coup is a trend in the right direction — being awake is certainly preferable to being asleep, and some of that, you know, I think Chris Murphy has been someone who’s been a real leader early in this.”

READ MORE: ‘Blind to What’s Happening on His Watch’: Rubio Slammed After ‘Cheap Shot’ at Aid Groups

“But at the end of the day, the Democratic Party right now is completely leaderless,” he lamented. “There’s no real clear sense of fight. You still have these messages of, well, ‘we gotta trust in God,’ or well, ‘we’ll pass a law to regulate the Treasury.'”

“There’s no understanding that this is a very serious concerted an anti-constitutional coup being waged by very determined actors.”

Senator Murphy shared his concerns—and plan—with Giridharadas.

Giridharadas told Murphy he thought the Senator’s “present-level thinking about the future of the Democratic Party…has been clearer and starker and more honest.”

But he also charged, “I would imagine that 90% of people watching this right now feel profoundly undefended by the Democratic Party.”

Murphy replied, “I do think that people understand that we are the minority party. We don’t run the White House, we are the minority in the House and in the Senate, but we need to act like a real opposition party in the middle of a constitutional and democracy crisis.”

And he offered a plan for his colleagues and grassroots Democrats.

“That means we should not be moving forward nominees or legislation in the United States Senate. Democrats should not be giving votes to nominees or to legislation in the United States Senate until Republicans get serious about this crisis. Democrats should not help Republicans raise the debt ceiling in order to pass their massive tax cut for billionaires and millionaires.”

“Democrats should be leading public gatherings all weekend, all across the country to bring Americans out to show Republicans if they will pay a price. And then Democrats need to speak in really stark terms about what is going on here.”

Calling it “a billionaire power grab,” Murphy said, “I think Elon Musk is trying to steal our money, is trying to steal our data. I think Elon Musk is shutting down the USAD because he wants to do deals with China and make more money. And and I know that there are some in the Democratic Party that, you know, don’t like jumping to conclusions, that there are some of the Democratic Party that don’t like to call out specific billionaires for what they are doing to all of us, but this is a moment in which we’ve got to engage in very, very simple and strong terms about what is happening.”

“Side by side with being a true opposition party in the Senate, using our tools to make life difficult for complicit Republicans, and then going out there and leading a a public engagement, which is I think the next step that we have to do, don’t just fight on the inside, go fight on the outside.”

On social media, Murphy added, “We still have the power to stop this billionaire power grab, but Democrats need to act like our democracy is weeks away from disintegrating—because it is.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘You Will Have Blood on Your Hands’: GOP Senator, a Physician, Condemned for RFK Jr. Vote

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