Op-ed: The Republican Convention in Cleveland is getting most of the attention on American television but the public is more concerned about a wave of murders, including many police officers.
The country has been listening to the loud mouth of Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for months, and the only question is how much he will be able to make his vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, dump views he had that were critical of Trump. “When it comes to Donald Trump's selection of Mike Pence as his running mate, things appear to have moved away from suspense and are now just plain tense. “In an odd and seemingly uncomfortable clip of an interview that aired Sunday night on CBS' "60 Minutes," the two men headlining the GOP 2016 ticket appear to disagree on the upsides of running a negative campaign and convey an uneasy rapport with each other.” There has been a series of police killings, including three Sunday in Louisiana. On July 7, five Dallas police were killed. There were other killings, several by ex-military, and there was no doubt the police were killed in revenge, in some cases by men trained in the military, because very few police have been punished for questionable killings of black men and children. Government statistics show more blacks are killed by police than their populations would justify. “In 2015, The Washington Post launched a real-time database to track fatal police shootings, and the project continues this year. As of Sunday, 1,502 people have been shot and killed by on-duty police officers since Jan. 1, 2015. Of them, 732 were white, and 381 were black (and 382 were of another or unknown race).” Roughly half of those killed were black, but whites outnumber blacks by five times. “White people make up roughly 62 percent of the U.S. population but only about 49 percent of those who are killed by police officers. African Americans, however, account for 24 percent of those fatally shot and killed by the police despite being just 13 percent of the U.S. population,” the Post said. One of the black victims, Philando Castile, had been pulled over 49 times before he was killed when an officer noticed a broken tail light. Critics say this is a result of militarizing the police. The problem is there are many thousands of soldiers who have had the same, or even better training. Killer Micah Johnson, who was blown up with a police bomb-laden truck, used “scoot and shoot” techniques he had learned in the Army. Of course there are millions of guns in the U.S., as gun control has largely failed. Someone with a gun doesn’t necessarily need to have been a veteran to know how to be a military sniper to kill. Much can be learned on target ranges and Google. The conservative Website RedState said: “Reasonable people can disagree about the prevalence of police brutality in America, and the extent to which race plays a factor in it. I don't think reasonable people can disagree that excessive police force is punished way less often than it actually happens. And that's the kind of problem that leads to people taking up guns and committing acts of violence - tragically (and with evil intent) against cops who as far as we know have done nothing wrong. “But people's willingness to act rationally and within the confines of the law and the political system is generally speaking directly proportional to their belief that the law and political system will ever punish wrongdoing. And right now, that belief is largely broken, especially in many minority communities.” A Baltimore judge acquitted another policeman Monday in the death of another black man, Fred Gray. Forgetting race for a moment, there is one other issue that no doubt plays in part in who lives and who dies. The U.S. government is under pressure to keep some information about shootings confidential. But does anyone doubt that the poor are more likely be victims of shootings than the wealthy.
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A truck crashed into a crowd on the legendary Promenade des Anglais in Nice on France’s Bastille Day. Eighty-four or more were killed, and many injured according to LeMonde. Two Americans and one Russian were among the victims. There was at least one person in the truck. He was killed and there were reports at least one more killer had been captured. No claim was made for responsibility but few doubted it was ISIS. They were likely to be held responsible and if this is their response to losing most of their territory to Western attacks they may have made a mistake. "The horror, the horror has, once again, hit France,” President François Hollande said in a nationally televised address early Friday. He said the “terrorist character” of the assault was undeniable, and he described the use of a large truck to deliberately kill people as “a monstrosity.” “France has been struck on the day of her national holiday,” he said. “Human rights are denied by fanatics, and France is clearly their target.” He reinstituted a state of emergency imposed eight months ago when Paris was attacked, the New York Times said. It was due to be lifted end of July. Nice has long been a favored spot for tourists from throughout the world on the Mediterrean in southern France near Italy. Not only are there beautiful hotels for visitors but it is fun to sleep on the rocky beach. An unforgettable experience. Prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said the lorry drove two kilometres (1.2 miles) through a large crowd, the AFP news agency reports. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said that "a lorry driver appears to have killed dozens of people.” It seemed likely the latest attack could result in an international meeting of victim countries to decide what to do. Many, such as U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, were blaming Muslims. Others said a rogue group was using people like Trump to make life more difficult for Islam. Portrayed for year as a witch, Hillary Clinton has survived another “Salem trial,” to use a Washington Post headline. Bernie Sanders has endorsed her and polls indicate his fans will follow. An opinion piece beneath it reviews all of Hillary’s scandals, one by one. It is often heard that Clinton is a liar and a criminal. The former is a matter of opinion, but Clinton hasn’t been convicted of any crimes. Google it and you can find almost anything, particularly allegations that the family has associated with criminals. No crimes by Hillary. “Even when it comes to the Clintons, this is madness. Hillary Clinton may have lied about her emails, but Donald Trump lies about everything. Still, for the Justice Department to upend a presidential campaign over a matter as trivial as a violation of email policy approaches an anticipatory coup. If there were lies deserving of punishment, let the voters mete it out. “I am tempted to say that historians of the future will have to dope this all out. But they are not up to the job. It should go to shrinks and such, for Clinton has become a human Rorschach: Some people, particularly Republicans, look at her and see the Devil. Their denunciations of her are so at variance with even the contested facts that it suggests a psychosis — congressional panel after congressional panel, investigation after investigation, all of them of the kind once familiar to the good people of Salem, Mass., who knew what it is like to have the purported criminal but not, alas, the crime. Over the years I have detected wee imperfections in Clinton, and I have noted them in many columns. But she is a colossus of integrity and wisdom compared with Trump. He calls her ‘Crooked Hillary,’ but truly no single American has been as investigated as she has been and found, if not completely innocent, then not guilty. The GOP ought to give it a rest,” wrote Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. A review of Carl Bertstein’s book on Hillary, “A Woman in Charge,” suggests she took the heat for her popular former president. Even when he was about to impeached he had a favorable rating of 62 percent. “Hillary is neither the demon of the right’s perception, nor a feminist saint, nor is she particularly emblematic of her time – perhaps more old-fashioned than modern. Hers is a story of strength and vulnerability, a woman’s story,” Bernstein wrote in a book that was very critical. Carl Bernstein Washington Post Bernie Sanders gave Hillary Clinton a beaming enthusiastic endorsement Tuesday. He had fought her so hard for long many in the crowd probably wondered how sincere it would be. He said she would make "an outstanding president." It was all smiles as he worked a rope line. “Secretary Clinton has won the Democratic nominating process,” Mr. Sanders said, as cheers erupted and Mrs. Clinton broke into a wide smile. “And I congratulate her for that. She will be the Democratic nominee for president, and I intend to do everything I can to make certain that she will be the next president of the United States.” “I have come here to make it as clear as possible why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president,” the New York Times said. The candidates hugged tightly. Sanders stood behind showing his support when she indicated a brutal campaign was about to begin. Only time will tell how much campaigning he will do for her but for the moment he was demonstrating his support. A Pew Report poll from last week said 85 percent of Sanders clan would vote for Clinton. Sanders has missed no opportunity to denounce Republican Donald Trump. The idea that Sanders people would stay home or even vote for him appears to be a mirage. Both Clinton and Sanders have called Trump a racist, unqualified, a warmonger, an expert at using U.S. tax laws to enrich himself at the expense of people who lose their jobs. “You can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig,” Clinton, in the Trump style. The Clinton-Sanders team is likely to get at least a temporary boost in the polls, which she leads by an average of six points. Other news organizations use similar language, avoiding stating flatly that the endorsement would occur. However, it was a win-win for both sides. Clinton was gaining more endorsements, and Sanders had won several platform battles at meetings preceding the Philadelphia convention in July, meaning his campaign was not a waste of time. Many Sanders’ supporters have taken to the Internet to express their disgust with a Clinton endorsement, and declare they will never vote for her. Only time will tell how effective Sanders can be on the campaign trail for Clinton, and how far he is willing to go. Few of his supporters are likely to vote for Donald Trump. Clinton has led in most polls, usually by five or six points, sometimes more. However, the impact on the campaign of recent violence, including deaths of police and civilian, is unknown. As usual, Trump says the problem is easily solved with a hammer. Clinton says divisions in the country must be healed. The FBI failure to indict Clinton for using a private email service, just as her predecessors had, has left a stain on the campaign. But 60 percent of those polled by the Washington Post said the issue would not decide their vote. The next hot issue is going to be who is selected by each candidate as the vice presidential candidate. Trump doesn’t have the campaign money or solid support from people of his party that Clinton does. Years of attacks on her, since her husband was president, may make it hard to gain momentum for a businessman with no government experience. And he has his own share of scandals. Expectations were growing Monday that Bernie Sanders would endorse Hillary Clinton at a joint rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Tuesday.
No one in either high command would confirm more than they were holding the rally together. Associated Press published a story under a headline: “Bernie Sanders Will Endorse Hillary Clinton.” The subhead said “Expect it to happen on Tuesday.” Associated Press Other news organizations use similar language, avoiding stating flatly that the endorsement would occur. However, it was a win-win for both sides. Clinton was gaining more endorsements, and Sanders had won several platform battles at meetings preceding the Philadelphia convention in July. Jeff Weaver, Sanders' manager, said “What has been sent is a clear message that the voices of the 13 million-plus people who supported Senator Sanders are being heard.” Many Sanders’ supporters have taken to the Internet to express their disgust with a Clinton endorsement, and declare they will never vote for her. Only time will tell how effective Sanders can be on the campaign trail for Clinton, and how far he is willing to go. Few of his supporters are likely to vote for Donald Trump. Clinton has led in most polls, usually by five or six points, sometimes more. However, the impact on the campaign of recent violence, including deaths of police and civilian, is unknown. As usual, Trump says the problem is easily solved with a hammer. Clinton says divisions in the country must be healed. The FBI failure to indict Clinton for using a private email service, just as her predecessors had, has left a stain on the campaign. But 60 percent of those polled by the Washington Post said the issue would not decide their vote. Washington Post The next hot issue is going to be who is selected by each candidate as the vice presidential candidate. Trump doesn’t have the campaign money or solid support from people of his party that Clinton does. Years of attacks on her, since her husband was president, may make it hard to gain momentum for a businessman with no government experience. And he has his own share of scandals. CNN Some would say the recent racial violence in the U.S. was inevitable with the proliferation of weapons and blacks being the targets of police shootings more than their population would justify.
Even scarier is the growing feeling that the rich have too much control, and the poor are living miserable existences. In other words, those with money in the U.S. have more to worry about than blacks. It has not shut up Donald Trump who supports dictators like Russia’s Putin, and often has responded within minutes to any violence with a warning that he would use nukes and ban people he doesn’t like. His campaign apparently feels whites are so scared they want to hear tweets blaming President Obama for the recent violence. Trump may be going against the flow this time. There were protests Saturday and Sunday across the nation by people who believe police are too quick to use their guns, and are unlikely to be held responsible. More blacks are shot by police than their share of the population would suggest occur. Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has a nearly double-digit lead in some polls, said more has to be done to quiet anxieties about racism. "White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African-Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day," Clinton told a largely black group. "We need to try, as best we can, to walk in one another's shoes -- to imagine what it would be like if people followed us around stores or locked their car doors when we walked past ... or, if every time our children went to play in the park, or just to the store to buy iced tea and Skittles, we said a prayer: 'Please God, don't let anything happen to my baby.'” Candidates from both parties throughout the country have urged that politicians not use the recent violence as a way to get elected. How we handled slavery has become a topic again, and not just on Broadway. Art often suggests where a nation in trouble is headed, whether it is South Africa or the U.S. Theaters in Johannesburg were full of plays about the evils of apartheid, and clearly played a role in ending white-minority rule. The Washington Post says the U.S. needn’t fear Nat Turner kind of slave revolts. “But it still must worry about the aggrieved black man,” the Post said. In South Africa, police often found themselves defending white richesse, though they were not by any means wealthy themselves. The danger in the U.S. is not a black majority. It is much more complicated. Many minorities, including Hispanics and Asians, consider themselves modern-day serfs. One thing is clear. Reviews of demographics show minorities are growing. Firstly, they have higher birth rates. Police forces have growing numbers of minorities. The idea that the widespread presence of mobile phones would make police more careful and result in fewer police shootings of civilians hasn’t happened. The Washington Post Gun Archive Project shows fatal shootings by police are not dropping. The shooter in Dallas, who killed five police, was trained in the U.S. Army, served in Afghanistan, said he attacked them because so many fellow blacks were being killed by police. For seniors, President Obama’s visit to Dallas this week will bring back unpleasant memories of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy there. Police shootings of blacks have rarely resulted in convictions. The optic is such that many, perhaps most, see police risking their lives and therefore some deaths that would be called collateral. In Minnesota, a black man was killed by a policeman when a witness said he had told the officer who had pulled him over that he was carrying permitted gun. There is recognition that it is not simply a black and white issue. The conservative Web site RedState said: “Reasonable people can disagree about the prevalence of police brutality in America, and the extent to which race plays a factor in it. I don't think reasonable people can disagree that excessive police force is punished way less often than it actually happens. And that's the kind of problem that leads to people taking up guns and committing acts of violence - tragically (and with evil intent) against cops who as far as we know have done nothing wrong. “But people's willingness to act rationally and within the confines of the law and the political system is generally speaking directly proportional to their belief that the law and political system will ever punish wrongdoing. And right now, that belief is largely broken, especially in many minority communities.” The FBI is recommending no charges be filed against Hillary Clinton for maintaining a private email server, clearing the way for her become the first woman presidential nominee of the Democrat party. FBI Director James B. Comey said Clinton had very careless, which could be said of most Americans who have had to learn now to use one new electronic practice after another. No one is arguing that her private email server was hacked by unfriendly powers, although some government servers have. Comey said no evidence of misconduct was found in the handling of classified mails. And previous secretary of states, including Colin Powell, had his own email. Many in private industry believe it would be safer to control their own email, rather than risk attacks by China, Russia and other. The Republicans will resume their attack on Clinton although it goes against their own basic philosophy that private industry can do a job better than the government. President Obama’s attempt to set up a health care website was a fiasco. After several terrorist attacks in the U.S. the government tried to force Apple to reveal the inner workings of an iPhone used by a terrorist. Apple refused, but another private company was able to do the job. The Clinton campaign said it was pleased with the decision made by "career officials" at the FBI. "As the Secretary has long said, it was a mistake to use her personal email and she would not do it again," said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. "We are glad that this matter is now resolved." Republican nominee Donald Trump condemned the recommendation as expected. Yet the GOP now has lost both its marquee playing cards, Benghazi and the emails The real loser may be Bernie Sanders if he held any hopes that Clinton would be indicted and he would get the nomination by default, even though she had several million more votes than his campaign. |
Robert Weller
2016 US election news and other news from the USA
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Worked in journalism, including on the Internet, for more than 40 years. Started as a news editor at the Colorado Daily at the University of Colorado, joined a small Montana newspaper, the Helena Independent-Record, and then United Press International. Archives
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