Donald Trump says he saw people celebrating 9/11 in Jersey City
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he saw people cheering the Sept. 11 attacks across the river in New Jersey — a claim officials strongly deny. Trump first told the story Saturday at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, as he pressed the need for greater surveillance, including monitoring certain mosques, in the wake of the Paris attacks. “I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering,” Trump said Saturday at a rally in Birmingham, Alabama. Trump repeated the assertion Sunday in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week,” as Stephanopoulos explained to Trump that police had refuted any such rumors at the time. “It did happen. I saw it,” said Trump. “It was on television. I saw it.” “There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down,” he said. “I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it,” he added, “but there were people cheering as that building came down, as those buildings came down. And that tells you something.” A spokeswoman did not respond to a request for clarification Saturday about Trump’s comments. In a statement, Jersey City Mayor [Stephen] Fulop criticized Trump for his statements. “Trump is plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue,” said Fulop. “No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th. We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan.” Footage of Muslims in Middle Eastern countries cheering news of the attacks were broadcast often on television, but there is no evidence in news archives of mass celebrations by Muslims in Jersey City, which sits right across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan, with clear views of the World Trade Center site. While rumors have circulated on the internet for years that American Muslims celebrated the attacks in Paterson, New Jersey, police officials and religious leaders denied it at the time. “Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign,” said Fulop. “Clearly, Trump has memory issues or willfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party.’” George Pataki, the governor of New York at the time of the attacks who is also running for the Republican presidential nomination, responded on Twitter. “Not sure what luxury spider-hole @realDonaldTrump was hiding in on Sept11 but I saw Americans come together that day @GStephanopoulos,” he wrote. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton names Terri Sewell, legislative Dems to state campaign committee
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton named a slew of progressive Alabamians to her state campaign committee on Friday, which she is calling the “Alabama Leadership Council.” Among the most powerful members of the 60-member council of supporters is U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democratic congresswoman and the first black woman to represent Alabama in Congress. A number of state lawmakers in Montgomery also made the list, including Sen. Vivian Davis Figure, Rep. Napolean Bracy, and Rep. James Buskey. Longtime supporter and former state co-chair Pat Edington also made the list, as did Vivian Beckerle and Timothy Bolden. The list of Hillary-supporting Yellowhammer State Democrats also includes several party insiders who also cast a vote in the party’s nominating convention. Observers say her path to victory includes running an extensive behind-the-scenes campaign for her party’s delegates, of whom reports say she has racked already secured half. Clinton made a handful of campaign stops in Alabama last week, ahead of her designation of campaign committee members. She weighed in on the closure of several state driver’s license offices – an issue championed by Sewell – last month as well, calling the move “a blast from the Jim Crow past.” Democrats’ chances of winning carrying Alabama’s are slim to none. The last time the state voted for a Democratic president was in 1976, when then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter captured the state’s support.
Ted Cruz seeks to cast himself as the electable conservative
Ted Cruz is among the most hated men in Washington, reviled by leaders of both parties as an ideological hard-liner loyal only to the far-right of the conservative movement. But racing down an Iowa highway on a snowy weekend morning, a solemn Cruz suggested some of his Republican rivals for president have amped up their rhetoric too much — especially on policy toward people who are in the U.S. illegally. “Tone matters,” Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant, told The Associated Press in an interview between campaign stops. “Are there some in the Republican Party whose rhetoric is unhelpful with regard to immigration? Yes.” Donald Trump‘s call for a database to track Muslims in the U.S. is one example, Cruz says. But he refused to condemn the rhetoric of another Republican who could help him win Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, Rep. Steve King, the influential conservative who has described immigrants living in the country illegally as disease-ridden_and spent the weekend campaigning at Cruz’s side. “I cannot help the language that others use,” Cruz said in the interview. “I can only help the words that come out of my own mouth.” Taken together, they are remarkable statements for a conservative firebrand who rarely, if ever, shows signs of moderation. Yet in the crowded and unruly 2016 Republican primary, Cruz is trying to position himself as the grown-up alternative to Trump and Ben Carson, two inexperienced and undisciplined front-runners who have so far captivated their party’s most passionate voters by riding a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric. As Carson’s support appears to soften, and Trump struggles to say with precision what are his exact plans for increasing surveillance of potential threats in the wake of the Paris attacks, Cruz’s is ramping up his pitch and trying to cast himself not just as an outsider — but an electable outsider at a time of widespread mistrust of Washington. “I do not believe either one of them is going to be the nominee,” Cruz told the AP about Carson and Trump. “I am working very hard to win every one of their supporters.” Cruz spoke to AP at the end of a week in which Carson, who previously said he wouldn’t support a Muslim president, likened dealing with Syrian refugees to the handling of “rabid dogs” and said he would support government monitoring of any group deemed radical and “anti-American.” Having described Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals in his announcement speech, Trump this week said he would “absolutely” support a mandatory database to track Muslims in the U.S. He later said he wanted a “watch list” for Syrian refugees and “surveillance of certain mosques.” To be sure, Cruz has reacted aggressively to the Paris attacks and his is targeting same slice of the Republican electorate as the two front-runners. He introduced legislation this week entitled the “Terrorist Refugee Infiltration Prevention Act” that would allow U.S. entry only to Christian fleeing war-torn Syria. That comes after Cruz, whose Cuban-born father first immigrated to Canada and then to the U.S., last week outlined an immigration policy that would dramatically increase deportations, add hundreds of miles to the wall on the Mexican border and suspend a program that grants work visas to high-skilled immigrants, a reversal of his previous position. But the Harvard-educated attorney who served five years as the Texas solicitor general has done so while avoiding the explosive language employed by Trump and Carson, which critics say reeks of xenophobia — if not outright bigotry. “I am the son of an immigrant who came from Cuba with nothing, came here legally,” Cruz said. “And my view, which I think the vast majority of Americans share, is very simple: Legal good. Illegal bad.” And yet even while suggesting some Republicans have gone too far with their rhetoric, Cruz spent the weekend campaigning alongside Iowa Rep. Steve King, a favorite of evangelical voters and one of his party’s most outspoken hardliners on the issue. King, who endorsed Cruz this week, has described immigrants living in the country illegally as disease-ridden and compared them to drug mules and livestock. He is perhaps best-known for a 2013 comment attacking children of such immigrants: “For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’ve been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” With King riding in the second vehicle of Cruz’s two-car caravan, Cruz refused to condemn such comments when pressed. He also declined to name any Republicans whose rhetoric on immigration has been “unhelpful.” “I am not going to approach this election like a theater critic — giving my reviews of every word uttered by every other Republican,” Cruz said. “I’m going to focus on my message.” And while that message may be tempered compared to that Trump and Carson, Cruz’s efforts to paint himself as the electable outsider haven’t won over some of his critics. “I have serious reservations at this point about Ted Cruz,” said Alfonso Aguilar, a Republican who served in the George W. Bush administration and now leads the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. “He’s allied himself with Steve King,” Aguilar said, suggesting that Cruz has turned his back on his immigrant roots. King, meanwhile, heaped praise on Cruz as they crisscrossed Iowa together. The congressman introduced the presidential contender as “the man I believe will restore America’s soul.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star –Trump’s repugnant comment about Muslims Donald Trump’s propensity for jaw-dropping comments is so strong that it’s more noteworthy when he reins it in. Unless, of course, the Republican presidential candidate goes as far as he did Thursday evening. While attending a rally in Newton, Iowa, Trump said he would “absolutely” force Muslims in the United States to register with the federal government should he become president. After the rally, a reporter pushed Trump on the issue. Would Muslims really be forced to register? “They have to be,” Trump said. Next question: How and where would Muslims register with the federal government? “Different places,” Trump said. “You sign up at different places. But it’s all about management. Our country has no management.’’ That was Thursday. By midday Friday, Trump faced a barrage of condemnations — from Democrats and some Republicans — over his comments. “This is shocking rhetoric. It should be denounced by all seeking to lead this country,” Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted. In New Hampshire, a key early primary state, the chairwoman of that state’s Republican Party, Jennifer Horn, told The New York Times that “(T)he idea of a national database that tracks people just because of their religion is beyond ludicrous.” She later called the idea “un-American.” The Birmingham News – Medicaid expansion and Bentley’s $3 billion blunder On Wednesday a task force appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley recommended that the state “move forward at the earliest opportunity to close Alabama’s health coverage gap with an Alabama-driven solution.” The task force couldn’t bring itself to say it explicitly, and some of its members danced around what that contortionism really means, but there’s only one clear way right now to “close Alabama’s health coverage gap” as they say. To do that, the state must expand Medicaid. The reasons to do so are straightforward and abundant. In state rankings, Alabama ranks near the bottom of most indicators of public health. We’re 49th in infant mortality. We’re 48th in life expectancy. We have the fifth worst rate of obesity in the country. We have the second worst rate of diabetes. If you’re a woman, we’re the third worst in heart disease, and second if you’re a man. You get the picture. The Decatur Daily – Avoiding wasteful incentives An odd thing happened in Limestone County this week. The Limestone County Commission declined to give a tax abatement for a business expansion, but the expansion is happening anyway. It is a sign of how automatic tax abatements have become that it is almost impossible to find evidence, one way or the other, of whether abatements and other incentives are actually effective in generating economic development. The looming but unanswerable question is whether businesses and industries really are making their business decisions based on abatements and incentives that usually are a tiny fraction of a company’s planned investment. While the incentives typically are minor relative to the cost of the project, they often are major relative to the tax revenue of municipal and county governments. If development would come without the incentives, then taxpayers are suffering with no corresponding gain. The project in Limestone County is an expansion of LawLers Barbecue, a fine company that is carefully expanding its footprint. To support its various restaurants, LawLers proposed a $2.5 million investment in an industrial park. The completed facility would serve as a meat production and distribution facility for the company’s restaurants. In addition to the capital investment, the project would employ 20 people. It was not a major project for Limestone County, but still attractive. And as incentives go, the $115,000 abatement LawLers requested was tiny. Dothan Eagle – Closing a chapter on Saints Apartments The buildings that comprised Saints Apartments on East Powell Street just off North Oates Street were undoubtedly an eyesore, and plans to raze the structures for parking surely seemed a more agreeable alternative. However, the Dothan Downtown Redevelopment Authority’s plans sowed seeds of disagreement, and pushback materialized from both a prospective developer who expressed interest in the buildings, and a historical committee that took issue with the plan. Eventually a fire heavily damaged the structures, and they were torn down, raising questions about the disposal of asbestos in the structures. Saints Apartments became the nightmare that appeared to have no end. Until this week, when the DDRA announced it had reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency last month, bringing this chapter to a close. The DDRA agreed to pay a $540 fine without admission of wrongdoing. That’s a small price to pay to put this debacle behind our city, and allow the positive changes at the site to flourish. Where the buildings once were a park is now taking shape, named in honor of Peggy James, longtime executive of the Human Resource Development Corporation located nearby. It’s not quite the plan the DDRA had in mind from the start, but the result is arguably better than a parking lot. An eyesore is gone, replaced by a green space honoring a community leader. The Enterprise Ledger – Heaven help us all when Putin looks good A setback is when Nick Saban loses Kenyan Drake for a few weeks with an injury. A setback is when ALDOT decides paving a particular street must be pushed back another six months. A setback is when you spill a cup of coffee on your dress shirt and you have to be late for work as you return home to change. A setback is when your girlfriend says she just wants to be friends. A setback is not 129 people being murdered and hundreds more injured in the recent terror spree in Paris, which is precisely what our fearful leader called the fight against ISIS. For a country – France – that has long been the butt of jokes regarding its perceived weakness, we had better be prepared to take it as well as we’ve dished it out because no one is perceived
