Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-8-17

White House And Political News
Barack Obama Finally Gets To Celebrate His Birthday Like A Normal Person
BARACK OBAMA
Trump Heads To N. J. For 17-Day Summer Vacation
President Donald Trump will spend the next two weeks at his golf resort in New Jersey.
Former President Barack Obama is celebrating his 56th birthday on Friday, his first since leaving office in January.
Last year, the White House threw Obama a massive bash with celebrity guests in- cluding Beyoncé and Jay-Z. In 2015, he dined at Rose’s Luxury, a popular Washing- ton, D.C., restaurant. This year’s festivities will likely be even more laid-back.
The occasion may also be bittersweet for Obama as he looks back on all that’s
changed in the past year.
President Donald Trump
is working to dismantle many of his predecessor’s signature policy achievements, includ- ing health care reform as well as key environmental regula- tions.
Obama has continued to reside in D.C., though he’s mostly stayed out of national politics. Instead, he’s spent his time building the Obama Foundation as well as taking a few much-needed vaca- tions.
President Donald Trump headed to his posh Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N. J. Friday for a two-week summer break. And, as with his predeces- sors, he will draw criticism for supposedly goofing off and spending too much tax- payers' money on amenities, logistics, security, Air Force One and related expenses.
Criticizing presidents on vacation has become a ritual of sorts in Washington, and every commander-in-chief is an easy target for the opposi- tion. But there's an added wrinkle this time: hypocrisy. Trump often blasted his predecessor Barack Obama not only for playing frequent rounds of golf on holidays, but also for going on vacation in the first place. Now Pres. Trump is doing what he condemned.
President Trump said repeatedly that as president he would be too busy to leave the White House very much because he would be so com- mitted to the work, and he mocked then President Barack Obama for his leisure activities. These claims go back at least to Aug. 15, 2011 when Trump wrote
on Twitter: "@Barack Obama played golf yesterday. Now he heads to a 10-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard. Nice work ethic." In another 2011 tweet, Trump wrote that Obama "plays golf to escape work while America goes down the drain." And in Au- gust 2016, when he was the Republican presidential nominee, Trump told sup- porters in Virginia he would- n't follow Obama's pattern. "I'm going to be working for you," he declared. "I'm not going to have time to go play golf."
Yet since becoming presi- dent in January, President
Trump spent 21 of his first 26 weekends at his Mar-a- Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., or other Trump-con- nected properties, where he played golf frequently, ac- cording to CNN. The New York Times reports that President Trump has vis- ited Trump-named proper- ties 56 days so far and played numerous rounds of golf.
Pres. Trump's spokes- woman said his New Jersey stay will be a "working vaca- tion," which is how White House aides have described presidential getaways for many years.
Maxine Waters, Issa Rae, Yara Shahidi and More Honored At 2017 Black Girls Rock Awards
Rep. Maxine Waters, Issa Rae and Yara Shahidi.
Democratic U. S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Insecure creator Issa Rae, black-ish star Yara Shahidi and Grammy-winning singer Solange Knowles were among the honorees at the 2017 Black Girls Rock Awards in Newark, N. J., on Saturday (Aug. 5).
The annual event was taped in front of a live audi- ence for a later broadcast on BET this month. Oscar-nom- inee Taraji P. Henson hosted the star-studded af- fair, which salutes black women in the field of enter- tainment, social justice, com-
munity activism and politics. Waters, a California con- gresswoman who has been an outspoken critic of Presi- dent Donald Trump and his policy, delivered a rousing speech about her fortitude as a black woman. “I want you to know, if it was not for the love and respect shown to me by black women, those right- wing ultra conservatives... they would have me believe I’m too black, I’m too con- frontational, I’m too tough, and I’m too disrespectful of them,” she told the audience, “But now I know I’m simply a strong, black woman.”
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017