Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 11-24-17

White House and Political News
President Trump Says He Should Have Left ‘UCLA Players In Jail’
House Republicans Pass Tax Bill; Next Up The Senate
Democrats Launch Effort To Impeach President Trump
Women’s Basketball Champions Turn Down Invitation To White House
New Orleans First Female Mayor
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell made history last night becoming New Orleans' first woman mayor after win- ning a heavily contested race.
Cantrell will succeed fellow Democrat Mitch Landrieu, who has served as mayor for two terms. Her victory is high- lighted by the fact that the city will also celebrate its 300th an- niversary next year in exis- tence.
In a race with 18 candidates, former municipal Judge De- siree Charbonnet and Cantrell led the field during an October general election to win runoff spots. Saturday's victory came as 60 percent of the voting returns forced Charbonnet to con- cede.
Cantrell did not appear out of thin air; she has been a force
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell is New Orleans’ first female mayor.
in New Orleans since the after- math of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As an activist, she spear- headed a recovery initiative after Katrina ravaged the hard-hit Broadmoor neighbor- hood.
Her work as a neighborhood activist helped her win a seat on the city council in 2012.
Donald Trump is not your average President of the United States. When most might associate the highest po- litical office in the country with someone who will concern his or herself with important is- sues, Trump is instead pick- ing more fights.
His latest war of words tar- gets LaVar Ball, the patriarch of basketball's tabloid-staple family, after he questioned how much the President was actually involved in getting his son, LiAngelo Ball, out of custody in China for shoplift-
President Trump is still spending time going back and forth about the issue.
ing.
Donald Trump had a big
show on social media of his in-
volvement, supposedly putting aside other issues to make the men involved with this public embarrassment returned to their home country safely.
After the players touched down on home soil last week, the President wanted a formal "thank you" from the UCLA players who had stepped out- side the law, which he got in a later press conference.
However, while the players may have been extolling the virtues of Trump and his han- dling of the situation, LaVar had a different idea.
Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct Lead To Political Fallout In Florida
Florida Democratic Party Chair Stephen Bittel, and State Sen- ators Jack Latvala and Jeff Clemens.
After months of internal squabbling and doubts, House Republicans passed their tax proposal on last Thursday, a major step forward for a House GOP that has thus far been un- able to deliver on any major piece of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The House passed the bill 227-205, with 13 Republicans joining every Democrat in op- posing the measure, which would lower individual tax brackets, dramatically cut the corporate tax rate from 35 per- cent to 20 percent, and nearly double the standard deduction
while eliminating a slew of smaller write-offs.
But even as Republicans celebrated the passage of their tax plan, the public perception of the bill is less than stellar.
According to the most re- cent polling, only 30 percent of Americans support the GOP tax plan, with 40 percent op- posing the bill and another 30 percent unsure.
The Florida Democratic Party chairman resigned Fri- day in shame. A Republican state senator faces possible ex- pulsion for sexual harassment. The state Senate’s top Demo- cratic leader abruptly stepped down after admitting an extra- marital affair with a lobbyist.
The biggest shock to the sys- tem unfolded Friday when the state’s Democratic Party chair, Stephen Bittel, quit after POLITICO Florida reported numerous women and men complained he created an un- comfortable work environment for young women.
Two of the other recent scandals — involve former state Senate budget chairman
Republican, Jack Latvala and incoming Democratic leader Jeff Clemens —caused chaos in the Florida Senate.
Latvala has already an- nounced a bid for governor, but Republicans say the Tampa Bay-area Republican has little chance now that he’s under investigation for sexual harassment allegations from six women. He has now been stripped of his powerful post as Senate budget chief and could face expulsion from the Senate.
Latvala’s close friend, Clemens, resigned Oct. 27 after admitting an extramarital affair with a lobbyist, further depleting the Democrats’ thin ranks in the Florida Senate.
Six House Democrats on Wednesday launched the lat- est official effort to oust Pres- ident Trump, introducing five new articles of impeach- ment revolving around the central theme that the presi- dent is a danger to the coun- try.
“Given the magnitude of the constitutional crisis, there’s no reason for delay,” said Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), the sponsor of the resolution.
Joining Cohen in endorsing the articles are Democratic Reps. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.),
Al Green (Texas), Marcia Fudge (Ohio), John Yarmuth (Ky.) and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.).
The lawmakers pointed to
numerous actions by Trump they say make him unfit to be president, but they singled out five actions they say rise to a level meriting impeachment.
The University of South Car- olina women’s basketball team has no time for President Don- ald Trump.
According to ESPN, the team, which won its first NCAA championship in April, was re- cently invited to attend a re- ception at the White House along with other college teams who won titles this year. It’s customary for the president to host title-winning NCAA teams.
The 2016 NCAA Champions for Women’s Basketball, Uni- versity of South Carolina after their big win.
Head coach Dawn Staley told The Associated Press in September that the team had yet to receive an invitation to the White House reception.
Staley told ESPN on last Thursday that the team did fi- nally receive an invitation to last Friday’s event, but now they have bigger fish to fry say- ing ‘the only invitation we are thinking about is to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.”
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