Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 11-21-17

White House And Political News
Pres. Trump Waiting On ‘Thank You’ From UCLA Players He Helped Get Released
The UCLA players arrived back in the U. S. late Tuesday from China. President Trump is taking the credit from getting the charges dropped with the help of the president of China, Xi Jin- ping.
Republicans In U. S. Senate Gut Obamacare In Tax Reform Bill
President Trump is obvi- ously upset that the three UCLA basketball players ar- rested for shoplifting in China have not said ‘Thank You’, de- spite his help to get China to drop shoplifting charges against them.
The trio, LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, were arrested after being ac- cused of stealing designer sun- glasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou. Trump, while on a tour of Asia, urged his Chinese counterpart to let them go, and was apparently looking for some gratitude.
He tweeted:
“Do you think the three
UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!”
The three players arrived at Los Angeles International air- port late last Tuesday after- noon, while the rest of the team returned to the U. S. on Saturday.
The Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, the leader of the western U.S. collegiate athletic conference, however thanked Trump, the White House and the State Department for their efforts in resolving the inci- dent, indicating that UCLA made “significant efforts,” as well, on behalf of its three players.
Republicans in the U. S. Senate want to gut Oba- macare in the latest draft of tax reform legislation they re- leased late last Tuesday.
The new version of the tax bill repeals the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all Americans either purchase health insurance or pay a penalty.
“By scrapping this unpop- ular tax from an unworkable law, we not only ease the fi- nancial burdens already asso- ciated with the mandate, but also generate additional rev- enue to provide more tax re- lief to these individuals,”
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R- Utah), chairman of the tax- writing Senate Finance Committee, said in a press re- lease.
Obamacare’s individual mandate, as it’s often called, is a core part of the law de- signed to bring healthier peo- ple into the insurance risk pool in order to offset the cost of sicker people who are more likely to buy insurance without the incentive of a mandate.
Until this week, Republi- cans had not signaled major interest in gouging the Af- fordable Care Act as part of
tax reform. The tax bill in the House, which could see a floor vote this week, does not include the Obamacare pro- vision. Including the man- date repeal helps put back some of the money that the bill loses through tax cuts for the wealthy and corpora- tions.
In another big twist, the new Senate tax legislation makes many of the individual tax cuts in the plan tempo- rary in a bid to comply with Senate rules that forbid cer- tain legislation from adding to the federal budget deficit after 10 years.
Justice Department Chief Jeff Sessions Is Grilled By Black Congress Members
Cong. Cedric Richmond grills Attorney General Jeff Sessions on last Tuesday.
Military Takes Over Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old president, Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace, who had plans to suc- ceed her husband. The Zimbabwe’s Army Commander, Constantino Chiwenga addresses a press conference in Harare after the take over.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was taken to task by Black lawmakers on his agency’s relationship with the Black community on last Tues- day that led to a heated ex- change.
The back and forth between AG Sessions and the Black congressman included criticism of his hiring practices, a report on so-called ‘black extremists’ groups and his comments about Black Lives Matter.
During his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee,
Sessions said he has yet to hire an African American to a senior level staff position at the De- partment of Justice.
“I do not have a senior staff member at this time that’s an African-American," Sessions told the committee.
During the hearing, Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told Sessions he doesn’t want the Justice De- partment to go backwards when it comes to upholding civil rights for minorities.
The military has taken over Zimbabwe, placing President Robert Mugabe, 93, under house arrest and detaining senior government officials in what many are expecting to be the beginning of a transition of power.
Military officials denied car- rying out a coup as it took over the state TV and broadcast a message insisting the presi- dent and his wife were “se- cure”, adding that they were targeting a ring of government plotters following a power struggle that saw the vice- president flee the country last week.
Jacob Zuma, the South African president, said he had spoken to Mr. Mugabe by phone who told him he was “confined to his home, but said that he was fine”.
"It is not a military takeover of government," an army spokesman said in a televised statement. "We are only tar-
geting criminals around him who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice.
"As soon as we have accom- plished our mission we expect that the situation will return to normalcy."
The address came hours after several loud explosions echoed across central Harare and troops seized the head- quarters of the ZBC, Zim- babwe's state broadcaster.
Several cabinet ministers, including local government minister Saviour Ka- sukuwere and finance minis- ter Ignatius Chombo, and Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwayo, were arrested.
According to The Guardian, before last Tuesday’s military coup, which could mark the end of Robert Mugabe’s reign and his wife, Grace’s succession, it had not been a
great year.
First Lady Mugabe al-
legedly assaulted a young model in Johannesburg – and needed diplomatic immunity to avoid an embarrassing court case.
There was also the bitter feud with the vice-president and rival to succeed her hus- band, Emmerson Mnan- gagwa, which resulted in her denying she plotted to poison him.
Then there was the decline in both the Zimbabwean econ- omy and her own personal popularity ratings.
It was reported that the country’s president was de- tained at their mansion, but, his wife was reportedly in Namibia on business.
Zimbabwe for the first time is seeing an open rift between the military and 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980 (37 years).
PAGE 6 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2017