Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 7-19-19

White House
House Thrown Into Chaos After Pelosi Decries Trump's 'Racist' Tweets On Floor
The House voted along party lines to allow Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call President Donald Trump's tweets about minority Democratic lawmakers "racist" in the Con- gressional Record on Tuesday, overriding a parliamentary rul- ing and GOP objections.
Pelosi's comments were initially ruled "out of order" on the floor itself, a small victory for the Republicans during a tense day in which both sides exchanged accusations of racism, hypocrisy and indeco- rous behavior unworthy of Congress or the country.
The drama over Pelosi's comments, sure to rankle Trump, played out before the House voted 240-187 to con- demn Trump's weekend tweets about four Democratic members of color - Alexan- dria Ocasio-Cortez of New
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
York, Ilhan Omar of Min- nesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Press- ley of Massachusetts. All 235 Democrats were joined by four Republicans and Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) in backing the measure.
House members aren't al- lowed to refer to Trump or his tweets as racist when speaking on the floor, even though the resolution they voted on Tues- day said as much. These rules on floor decorum are part of a package the body approved on
the first day of current Con- gress.
That led to a bizarre scene on Tuesday: Only clerks read- ing the resolution aloud were allowed to say the resolution condemned Trump's "racist tweets," demonstrating once again how different lawmaking is from real life.
The chaotic dispute began when Pelosi went to the floor to bash Trump over his tweets about "the squad," as the four freshman lawmakers refer to themselves.
Obama Congratulates Woman He Pardoned For Making The Dean's List
When Danielle Metz was 26 years old, she received three life sentences plus another 20 years for drug-related offenses stemming from her husband's cocaine trafficking ring.
Prior to Barack Obama leaving office, he granted clemency to hundreds of men and women behind bars most for non-violent drug-related offenses. Metz was one of the many individuals given a sec- ond chance.
A nonprofit-news organiza- tion The Hechinger Report re- ported on Metz since her release, and after being granted clemency, she enrolled in Southern University where she's studying social work. She finished her freshman year with a 3.75 GPA landing her on the Dean's List.
BARACK OBAMA
Speaking to The Hechinger Report, Metz attributed her success to the former presi- dent."You don't know what you did for me. I'm finally coming into my own. I made the honor roll," Metz said.
Obama got wind of Metz accomplishment and penned a handwritten letter to her con- gratulating her on success.
Trump’s Better Deal With Iran Looks A Lot Like Obama’s
Donald Trump has long trashed the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement as “the worst deal ever,” a “disaster” that didn’t cover nearly enough of the Is- lamist-led country’s nefarious behavior.
In recent weeks, however, the president has indicated that the Barack Obama-era deal might not be so bad after all.
Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to engage in negoti- ations with him, while saying that Tehran’s nuclear ambi- tions are his chief concern — “A lot of progress has been made. And they'd like to talk,” Trump asserted Tuesday at the White House. His aides and allies, meanwhile, have re- cently suggested that Iran and other countries should follow the guidelines of a deal they themselves have shunned as worthless.
At times, analysts and for- mer officials say, it sounds like Trump wants to strike a deal that essentially mirrors the agreement that his White House predecessor inked — even if he’d never be willing to admit it. Iranian officials seem willing to egg him on, saying they’ll talk so long as Trump lifts the sanctions he’s imposed on them and returns to the 2015 Iran deal. And as Euro- pean ministers warn that the
PRES. TRUMP
existing deal is nearly extinct, Trump may feel like he is backed into a corner and run- ning out of options.
“Trump got rid of the Iran nuclear deal because it was Barack Obama’s agree- ment,” said Jarrett Blanc, a former State Department offi- cial who helped oversee the 2015 deal’s implementation. “If you were to present to Trump the same deal and call it Trump’s deal, he’d be thrilled.”
The administration’s con- fusing messaging is a result of warring between two major factions, U. S. officials say, with Trump in his own sepa- rate lane. The infighting has been deeply frustrating to those involved in the debate. “In the past, even when I per- sonally disagreed with a policy, I could explain its logic,” a U. S. official said. “Now I can’t even do that.”
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