Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 8-25-17

White House and Political News
The Obamas’ Eldest Is Now A College Student
Malia Obama is officially a college student.
The oldest daughter of for- mer president, Barack and Mrs. Michelle Obama moved into her Harvard Uni- versity dormitory on Monday afternoon, one day before her fellow students began arriving with their parents.
The family was joined by members of the Secret Service as they pulled up to Malia's new residence in a two-SUV envoy, managing to avoid de- tection despite the thousands of people around the campus and in Cambridge.
That was due in large part to their timing, with the Oba- mas electing to get everything
The Obamas moved their eldest daughter, Malia into her dorm on Monday. Malia did not let her early check in stop her from being social however, and on Tuesday she headed out to stand with her fellow dorm residents as they got to know one another.
moved and Malia settled into her new digs during the solar eclipse.
Then it was time to say goodbye, which did not look easy for the parents of the 19- year-old freshman.
Barack and Michelle,
who both went to Harvard Law School, had their sun- glasses on long before they ex- ited Malia's dorm and kept their faces looking down as they rushed into their SUV, leaving their daughter behind to start her new life.
Take Aways From Trump’s Speech About Afghanistan: More Troops Will Be Deployed Within Days, Weeks
President Trump during his speech about Afghanistan on Mon- day.
The top U. S. commander in the Middle East estimates that additional U .S. troops could arrive in Afghanistan within days or weeks, but, according to several U. S. officials, De- fense Secretary James Mattis has yet to sign any orders to de- ploy more forces and is review- ing the Pentagon's earlier force recommendation, according to ABC News.
General Joseph Votel,
who was in Afghanistan over the weekend, said what's most important for the U. S. military "is to get some capabilities in to have an impact on the current fighting season," referring to the Taliban's spring fighting season, which began in April.
But several U. S. officials say that those forces will take time to deploy, and that Mattis is still reviewing the exact num- ber of troops that will go to Afghanistan.
This could be because ac- cording to reports for a number of decades, Afghanistan was not a nation under threat from Isis or the Taliban, but a place of stability, tolerance and even moderation.
From the 1930s to the late 1970s, some termed this nation that has long been a pawn in the struggles of the great pow- ers, the Paris of Central Asia. What’s more - some women even wore short skirts and it was one of the ways his advi- sors persuaded him to engage was to show him a photograph of women wearing such skirts.
In a speech on Monday,
President Trump suggested additional troops would be sent to the region, but did not reveal specific numbers. Trump was previously a vocal critic of the war in Afghanistan, but he reit- erated Monday that there are no immediate plans for the U. S. to withdraw.
In keeping with his criti- cisms of the Obama adminis- tration's preference for revealing timetables for troop withdrawal, Trump did not shed any light on possible schedules for further troop de- ployment or any scaling back of operations.
Before running for office, Trump repeatedly called for the U. S. military to withdraw from Afghanistan, and he ac- knowledged the about-face Monday.
He said he "studied Afghanistan in great detail and from every conceivable angle" and met with his Cabinet and the generals who are a part of his administration before mak- ing a decision.
"The consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable," he said.
One aspect of Trump's new strategy, he said, is "to change the approach in how to deal with Pakistan."
Mattis has favored the Pentagon's recommendation of 3,900 additional forces, but while traveling in Iraq on Tues- day he told reporters that the troops deployed "may or may not be the number that's bandied about.”
Former Intelligence Director Questions Trump’s ‘Fitness As President’ After Arizona Rally
The former Director of Na- tional Intelligence blasted President Trump's speech during an Arizona rally late Tuesday and raised questions about Trump's fitness for of- fice.
”I don't know when I've lis- tened and watched something like this from a president that I found more disturbing," James Clapper said during an interview on CNN.
"Having some understand- ing of the levers of power that are available to a President if he chooses to exercise them, I found this downright scary and disturbing."
Clapper was pressed on whether he questions
Pres. Trump allegedly went on and on about
and the Republican senators (John McCain and Jeff Flakes) not supporting his agenda. Tear gas was used on protesters outside the rally.
Trump's fitness for office. Clapper said Trump should have "quit while he was ahead" after his Afghanistan speech on Mon-
day.
Pres. Trump on Tuesday
defended his response to the violent clashes in Char-
lottesville, Va. during an Ari- zona rally, attacked the news media, called protestors out- side the rally ‘thugs’ and even attacked Republicans in the Senate whom he accused of distorting his response to Charlottesville and blocking his agenda.
the news media
The Trumps Won’t Attend Kennedy Center Honors Because Honorees Protested
Pres. And Mrs. Trump will skip the celebration, so no White House pre-gala will be held.
The KENNEDY CENTER 2017 HONOREES LIONEL RICHIE, GLORIA ESTEFAN, CARMEN DE LAVALLADE, LL COOL J (first hip hop artist honored), AND NORMAN LEAR.
President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, will not participate in this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, “to allow the honorees to cele- brate without any political dis- traction.”
Trump has become in- creasingly isolated after a se- ries of comments about the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville, Va.
Mr. and Mrs. Trump’s
decision not to attend the Kennedy Center celebration means that it will be just the fourth time in the program’s
40-year history that a presi- dent will not be in attendance. The Kennedy Center's pres- ident and chairman responded to the news with a statement posted on Twitter announcing that the Honors Gala on De- cember 3 "will continue as planned" but "the pre-gala White House Reception will
not take place."
The real reason for the de-
cision not to attend came after some honorees, including Li- onel Richie and Gloria Es- tefan, publicly debated attending the event. (Richie
told the Today show he’d play it by ear, while Estefan said she’d attend in the hopes that she could discuss immigration with Trump, Vanity Fair re- ported.)
Television producer Nor- man Lear announced he’d boycott all parts of the evening, and choreographer and dancer Carmen de Lavallade said she’d attend the reception, but not the awards ceremony be- cause of the actions of the cur- rent administration, according to a statement she released on Twitter.
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