TERRORIST DRIVES INTO ANTI-WHITE SUPREMACIST PROTESTERS KILLING ONE, INJURING 20 AT VA. AT WHITE NATIONALIST RALLY.

Charlottesville Mayor Blasts Trump’s ‘Repeated Failure’ To Denounce White Supremacists.

Heyer, 32, was killed when a vehicle plowed into a group of people opposed to a rally of white nationalists. “I’m not really surprised my child died this way,” said her mother, “because she would stand up for what she believed in.”

NY TIMES

The city of Charlottesville was engulfed by violence on Saturday as white nationalists and counterprotesters clashed in one of the bloodiest fights to date over the removal of Confederate monuments across the South.

White nationalists had long planned a demonstration over the city’s decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. But the rally quickly exploded into racial taunting, shoving and outright brawling, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency and the National Guard to join the police in clearing the area.

Those skirmishes mostly resulted in cuts and bruises. But after the rally at a city park was dispersed, a car bearing Ohio license plates plowed into a crowd near the city’s downtown mall, killing a 32-year-old woman. Some 34 others were injured, at least 19 in the car crash, according to a spokeswoman for the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Read more at NY TIMES

NY TIMES

Assigned to cover the “Unite the Right” rally of white nationalists, I stood in Emancipation Park at 9:15 a.m. Saturday and looked out at the gathering in front of me.

Initially, the mood was calm. Cornel West, the Harvard scholar, was linked arm in arm with about 20 clergy members, who had walked to the park from a sunrise service at a largely African-American church to counterprotest the demonstration by neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Tom Perriello, a former congressman and a hopeful for governor, was there to oppose the rally, too.

But then brawls broke out. Protesters began to mace one another, throwing water bottles and urine-filled balloons — some of which hit reporters — and beating each other with flagpoles, clubs and makeshift weapons. Before long, the downtown area was a melee. People were ducking and covering with a constant stream of projectiles whizzing by our faces, and the air was filled with the sounds of fists and sticks against flesh.

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“Where are the police?” shouted a man shortly before noon. The white nationalists faced off with anti-fascist groups and other protesters in the streets outside the park. The cuts and scrapes would be followed by injuries from even worse violence. Minutes later, a car plowed into a crowd of counterdemonstrators, killing a woman and injuring at least 19 other people. Her shoes and other personal effects could be seen strewn on the pavement.

After the rally was dispersed, its organizer, Jason Kessler, who calls himself a “white advocate,” complained in an interview that his group had been “forced into a very chaotic situation.” He added, “The police were supposed to be there protecting us and they stood down.”

• It was essentially just brawling on the street,” one woman said after clashes between white nationalists and protesters left the nation unsettled.
• While Charlottesville was grieving on Sunday, it was also questioning the police’s response. Some suggested they were too slow to intervene, but Gov. Terry McAuliffe said they had done “great work.”

Read more at  NY TIMES

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A torch-lit parade of Neo-Nazis and segregationists marched through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville on Friday night. CreditEdu Bayer for The New York Times

By the weekend’s finish, Fields had become the face of one of the ugliest days in recent U.S. history. After marching through the University of Virginia’s campus carrying torches and spewing hate Friday night, hundreds of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members gathered Saturday in downtown Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue memorializing Robert E. Lee. As they waved Confederate flags and screamed racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs, the protesters — almost all white and male — were met with fierce resistance from activists who had come to stop them.

“No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” the counterprotesters chanted, holding “Black Lives Matter” signs and placards calling for equality and love

Sickening moment white supremacist drove into crowds caught on camera by woman whose fiance pushed her out of the incoming car's path

• A video shows the sickening moment a white supremacist plowed into crowds
• Counter-protesters were at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday
• Marissa Blair was live-streaming on Facebook when the car crashed into people
• Her fiance, Marcus Martin, pushed her out of the way, breaking his leg 
• Blair captured the chaotic scene as she screamed out while looking for Martin
• The 27-year-old searched for him through throngs of injured people

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4786662/Sickening-moment-racist-drove-crowds-caught-camera.html#ixzz4ph2TYpxS
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Organizer of the Unite the Right rally punched and tackled to the floor as he gives a press conference blaming the city and cops for death of the paralegal killed protesting his hate-fueled march

White supremacist murder suspect 'idolized Hitler, had fascination with Nazis and wrote a lengthy "lovefest" paper about the German military'

James Alex Fields Jr was arrested Saturday after he allegedly drove into a crowd of anti-fascists in Charlottesville, Virginia. His former teacher claims Fields idolized Adolf Hitler and Nazis.

White House updates statement on Charlottesville violence condemning 'white supremacists, KKK and Neo-Nazis' - though Trump stays silent and away from the press

A White House spokesperson updated the statement delivered by President Trump, in which Trump condemned violence 'on many sides' and failed to call out hate groups.

A white nationalist has been fired from his job as Twitter begins naming and shaming alt-right supporters involved in yesterday's deadly Charlottesville rally. Cole White (center) was identified as one of the alt-right protesters at the violent Unite the Right march on Twitter by user Yes, You're Racist. After his employers Top Dog restaurant, in Berkeley, were alerted that White attended the rally, he was fired. A spokesman told reporters they would be releasing a full statement tomorrow but 'for now, we feel it is imperative to let you know that Cole White is no longer employed by Top Dog, LLC’. Pictured left, the Twitter page also identified Peter Cvjetanovic, 20, of Reno, as the angry-looking torch bearer who marched through the University of Virginia on Friday night and top right, Ryan Martin and Jacob Dix of Centerville, Ohio, were also ID-ed along with James Allsup, bottom right.

Flood Victims Return to Damaged Homes, Amid Tears, Debris and Stench

Hurricane Harvey victims started to return home on Thursday, when flood waters started to recede. The city's largest shelter had 8,000 people Thursday night, down 2,000 from the previous night. But figures from the American Red Cross show the number of displaced people is only rising, from 33,000 people Wednesday night to 42,000 people Thursday night. The lucky few who were allowed to return to their homes for good now face a massive clean-up. For some, it could be months before their homes are livable again as Houston announced it released water from reservoirs in an attempt to control flooding. The decision effects between 15,000 and 20,000 homes in the area and that flooding will continue to last more than two weeks, according to officials on Friday. Families began to hold funerals for their loved ones who died in the tragic flooding, gathering to mourn on Friday night.

Thousands of evacuees left shelters in Houston to assess damage caused by Harvey's floods. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4843070/As-floodwaters-recede-Houston-officials-look-recovery.html#ixzz4rVqMcuSX 
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In Harvey’s wake, a crippled water system, a chemical plant blaze and prolonged misery

Residents with no running water were unable to flush toilets, desperate for basic sanitation and fearful for their health. Meanwhile a massive fire at the Arkema chemical plant northeast of Houston sent up a black tower of acrid smoke. Company officials said there was nothing they could do to stop 19.5 tons of volatile chemicals from igniting.



In the shadow of a smoking plant, residents worry more about food and flooded homes

Unable to escape without a truck, boat or cellphone signal, residents of Crosby, Tex., focus on survival.

HARVEY CREATES HAVOC IN TEXAS

HUFFINGTON POST

In Houston, waters have begun to recede, but tens of thousands of people remain sheltered, their homes flooded and without power, their lives turned upside down.

While the full impact from a storm with the power and enormity of Harvey is difficult to fathom and is still being calculated, the numbers below help to put it into perspective. 

27 trillion

The estimated number of gallons of rain water dumped over Texas and Louisiana over the last six days. It’s nearly impossible to imagine a volume of water that enormous, but some tried to give it scope. CNN’s Jim Sciutto said that much water could fill the Houston Astrodome 85,000 times, a local ABC affiliate calculated that the water could supply New York City for more than five decades, 

47

The number of storm-related fatalities that have been confirmed to date. 

                                                       $30--100 billion

Harvey’s cost could mount to $30 billion when including the impact of relentless flooding on the labor force, power grid, transportation and other elements that support the region’s energy sector, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research, said in an email Monday. That would place it among the top eight hurricanes to ever strike the U.S. David Havens, an insurance analyst at Imperial Capital, said the final tally might be as high as $100 billion. [Bloomberg News ]

51.88

The number of inches of rainfall measured... According to National Weather Service’s data, the wettest tropical cyclone record still belongs to Hurricane Hiki, which developed off the coast of Hawaii in August 1950 and dropped 52 inches of rain.

34,575

The number of people forced out of their homes and currently sheltered.

224,127

The number of customers in Texas currently without power... . About 11,000 customers in Louisiana are also without power. 

58

The number of counties in Texas for which Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations.

2882

The number of animals currently being sheltered in Texas. In 69 open shelters, the Texas Animal Health Commission is tracking 513 cattle, 664 horses, 20 sheep, 66 goats, 5 swine, 10 poultry, 5 pet birds, 2 rabbits, 106 dogs, 14 cats and 1,024 unidentified exotic animals. Eighteen other shelters are also housing 453 pets.

506

The number of highways currently closed or flooded, 

10

The number of chemical facilities and oil and gas refineries that have reported problems 

30,000-40,000

The estimated number of homes that have been destroyed 

Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., was convicted by a federal judge of criminal contempt of court, a misdemeanor. (Laura Segall/Reuters)

If he’ll pardon Arpaio, why wouldn’t Trump pardon those who ignore Robert Mueller?


WASHINGTON POST


That President Trump pardoned former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio surprised no one who had been paying attention. He had all but said that he was going to do so, soaking up the applause from a friendly audience at a rally in Phoenix when he broached the subject.

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The broader question raised by the pardon, then, is where Trump would draw the line. If he’s willing to pardon Joe Arpaio for ignoring a court order in service of a political goal Trump embraces, why wouldn’t he pardon another individual he respects for similarly ignoring a demand from the court. Say, a former employee or a family member who, say, was issued a subpoena to testify before a special prosecutor?

One message from the Arpaio pardon is precisely that Trump sees his evaluation of the boundaries of legality as superior to the boundaries set by the legal system. The Constitution gives him that power. ....The presidential pardon is absolute. He can pardon anyone for any federal crime at any time — even before the person actually faces any charges and even if no crime actually took place. There’s nothing anyone can do about it, except to impeach Trump and remove him from office to prevent him from doing it again. 

In other words, if any of Trump’s allies decides to tell special counsel Robert Mueller to stick his subpoena in the south side of the National Mall, Mueller can press a court for contempt charges. The person could be convicted of those charges — and then get a pardon identical to Arpaio’s.

Does anyone think that Trump wouldn’t actually do this? 

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For a person in his position, surrounded by a federal investigation into his campaign and his business, that’s got to be appealing. And his pardon of Arpaio makes quite clear that loyalty to Trump can prevail over loyalty to the law.

HEAVIEST RAIN IN HISTORY

Hurricane Harvey has dumped the most rain on the continental US in history it was revealed today - as catastrophic scenes unfold in Houston with shelters overwhelmed with survivors, a curfew in place to prevent looting, dams overflowing and a chemical plant at risk of exploding. There are currently 20,000 Hurricane Harvey evacuees in shelters, according to Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, and in Houston's main shelter, the George R Brown Convention Center, there are 9,000 people, which is almost double the capacity of the center. However, people continued to flock to the overcrowded shelter as floodwaters kept rising on Tuesday. Rainfalls reached 51.88inches in Cedar Bayou, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon, which is the record in Texas and the continental US.  (even larger storms have been recorded in Hawaii) There are initial reports that at least 30 people have died from the storm and its aftermath, however, the complete death toll can't be fully counted until after the floodwaters recede. And while military help has been limited by weather and flooding, Air Force Major General James Witham said up to 30,000 National Guard troops are prepared and could be called on to help. In the state, hundreds of thousands of people are under evacuation orders and shelters are filled with people who craved news about loved ones and the state of their homes.

Up to 30 percent of Harris County — home to 4.5 million people in Houston and its suburbs — is under water. 

A fertilizer plant in Crosby, Tex., is in critical condition after its refrigeration system and power generators failed, raising the possibility that chemicals on the site could explode.

After more than 50 inches of rain over four days, Houston was less of a city and more of an archipelago: a chain of urbanized islands in a muddy brown sea. All around it, flat-bottomed boats and helicopters were still plucking victims from rooftops, and water was still pouring in from overfilled reservoirs and swollen rivers.

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RECORD RAINFALL IN TEXAS, WITH MORE TO COME

After wreaking havoc in Texas where thousands are now homeless, the tropical storm is set to continue off for another two days before it peaks on Thursday. It is currently hovering above the ocean off the coast but may make landfall again on Wednesday, threatening to bring 46mph winds to Louisianan towns which were entirely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thousands spent the night in emergency shelters on Monday (top right) in Texas. 

Up to 30 percent of Harris County-Houston under water, official says

The death toll in Texas has reached at least 16 people, including a veteran police officer, but officials warned the toll could rise as they pursue reports of people apparently lost in the downpours.

President Trump arrived in Texas to survey the ongoing devastation, while storm clouds continued a drenching onslaught.

The storm has unloaded more than 50 inches of rain east of Houston, the greatest amount ever recorded in the Lower 48 states from a single storm. And it’s still raining.

A BETTER DEAL OR THE SAME DEAL?

Forget ‘A Better Deal.’ Here’s what would actually work for Democrats.

EUGENE ROBINSON, WASHINGTON POST

At a kickoff event Monday in Berryville, Va., Democratic Party leaders announced three initial policy priorities: creating 10 million jobs over five years, with new apprenticeship programs and a tax credit for employers who provide on-the-job training; “cracking down on the monopolies and big corporate mergers that harm consumers, workers and competition,” as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) writes in a Post op-ed; and concrete action to lower the price of prescription drugs, a big factor in rising health-care costs.

All of which is fine. But somehow I don’t see Republican spinmeisters quaking in their Ferragamo loafers.

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If there is one lesson Democrats should have learned from 2016, it is that opposition to Trump is not by itself enough to win elections. I predict this will still be the case when the 2018 midterms roll around.

Yes, the Republican Party looks to be in trouble. Trump is sowing intraparty rancor and division, not unity. The base has remained loyal thus far, but independents and crossover Democrats have been given no reason to stick with the GOP.

It is possible that the stars might align next year to produce conditions for a pro-Democratic, anti-Republican “wave” election. But that has not happened yet. In the Senate, the Democratic caucus has 25 seats up for grabs next year, while Republicans have only eight seats at risk. And in the House, the GOP holds a 46-seat majority that will be difficult to reverse because of gerrymandering.

I’m still waiting to hear the “bold solutions” that Democrats promise. I can think of one possibility: Why not propose some version of truly universal single-payer health care?

Yes, that would be risky. But it might generate real excitement among the Democratic base — and also grab the attention of some of the GOP’s working-class supporters. Incrementalism is not the answer. Democrats need to go big or go home.

HARVEY'S HAVOC. WATERS STILL RISING.

The first military plane transporting evacuees from Galveston County, Texas, (inset) arrived in Dallas Monday afternoon, as rescue efforts continued in Houston to help those devastated by Hurricane Harvey. About 70 people and about a dozen pets were flown in on military C-130 planes and were taken to a shelter in Irving, Texas, after getting a medical evaluation. The first plane arrived around 6.20pm and at least six others are expected to make the same trip. Meanwhile, rescue efforts are in full swing in Houston and other areas devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday that 3,052 people have been rescued by police since the storm flooded the city, adding that 1,000 have been rescued in the last eight hours alone. Rainfall totals in some spots could exceed 50 inches, described by meteorologist Patrick Burke as 'unprecedented territory'.

Rains to continue to soak Texas for days; flooding to spread to neighboring states.

Texas officials said the death toll, now at 10, is expected to rise as rescue efforts go on and floodwaters pummel the Gulf Coast.

The storm’s devastation may force 30,000 people into shelters, officials warned.

Thousands pile into makeshift shelters, big and small, across Texas

People are living in a convention center, churches, gyms, tiny recreation centers — even a furniture store. Many may need shelter for weeks or months.

Cajun Navy’ races from Louisiana to Texas, using boats to pay it forward

The grass-roots effort, along with the “Cajun Coast Search and Rescue Team,” roared into inundated Texas towns in pickup trucks with bass boats and pirogues, ready to help search-and-rescue efforts.

• The Houston area looks like an inland sea dotted by islands, and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said people needed to prepare for “a new and different normal for this entire region.”
• The full scale of the crisis is still uncertain, but officials said about 30,000 people would seek emergency shelter, and 450,000 are likely to seek federal aid.

HUGE FLOODS PLUNGE HOUSTON, 4th LRGEST CITY IN U.S. INTO CHAOS

Two-day rainfall totals have reached or exceeded 20 inches across the metro area, and new bands of torrential rain appear on track to drop more than three inches per hour on the city late Sunday into Monday.

• In a scene that evoked Hurricane Katrina, residents had to be rescued by helicopters and boats as streets turned into raging rivers and made evacuation all but impossible.
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• Tropical Storm Harvey is “beyond anything experienced,” the National Weather Service said. The Service issued a forecast saying Houston could get as much as 50 inches, which would be the highest amount ever recorded in Texas  
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At least five deaths and more than a dozen injuries have been reported in the aftermath of Harvey, the hurricane that tore across the Gulf Coast of Texas over the weekend.

• On Sunday the powerful system, now a tropical storm, pounded the region with torrential rains that were expected to continue for days, causing catastrophic floods, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Gloria Maria Quintanilla walked to work in Houston’s Galleria area. CreditJulie Turkewitz/The New York Times

Thousands of rescue missions have been launched in Houston and across much of Central Texas, where downpours are expected to continue throughout the week and flooding could become much more severe. More than 3,000 national and state guard troops were deployed to assist in relief efforts, with another 1,000 heading to Houston on Monday.

At least five people have been reported dead as a result of the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Local officials expect that number to rise as floodwaters recede.

George Huntoon helped Monica Aizpurua and her daughter Tristan Aizpurua, 18, to a boat in the Meyerland area of Houston. CreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times

Just two months on the job, William “Brock” Long is coordinating the federal response to the storm, which now includes 5,000 employees in Texas. But on Sunday, with first responders overwhelmed by the volume of people in distress, many Texans launched their own rescues.

In Houston on Sunday morning, Mayor Sylvester Turner declared that “most major thoroughfares and their feeder roads” were now “impassible."

Why wasn't Houston evacuated? Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said 'you can't put 6.5million people on the road.' 

Houston area officials ...may have been remembering that the city government was strongly criticized after the disastrous evacuation before Hurricane Rita in 2005.

In the hours before Rita struck the Houston area in September 2005, government officials issued an evacuation order, and some 2.5 million people hit the road at the same time, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Officials later reported more than 100 deaths connected to Hurricane Rita — and at least 60 of those deaths were linked the evacuation itself, according to a 2006 report to the Texas House of Representatives.

Dozens were injured or died of heat stroke waiting in traffic for nearly a full day. Fights broke out on clogged highways. A charter bus carrying people from a nursing home exploded on the side of Interstate 45, killing 24 people inside.

Meanwhile, the fear from Hurricane Rita turned out to be unfounded. It weakened from a Category 5 churning in the Gulf of Mexico to a Category 3 by the time it made landfall in East Texas — and resulted in a fraction of the damage and deaths as Hurricane Katrina, which had ravaged New Orleans three weeks earlier.

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  • In the long term, Texas is likely to face a massive, multibillion-dollar rebuilding effort that may affect a generation — and what is sure to be a daunting and sometimes depressing era of government trailers, red tape and fights with bureaucrats and insurance companies.
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  As hard rains continued to fall, cars lay wrecked or stalled out on Houston’s interstate highways. People walked the roadways, looking for shelter or help, some vainly holding umbrellas skyward. Others waded through waist-high water, or paddled pirogues and little inflatable rafts. Rescue crews traversed the city in high-water vehicles, their crews in life jackets and helmets, and in trucks towing boats and Jet Skis.

In Trump Country, Russia Just Isn’t Big News. But the Opening of a New Dollar General Is. Here's Why.

[Not everyone who voted for Trump is a racist. Some Americans in the middle of the country may have just wanted a little respect from those Eastern elites and those college graduates in the big cities. Trump, of course, doesn't have a clue about how they live and cares even less. But he never talked down to them, and that can go a long way. Are you listening, Democrats?--Esco]

 As of August 2017, Dollar General operated over 13,000 stores in all U.S. states except: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.Since 1993 Dollar General has provided funding of literacy and education programs through its subsidiary Dollar General Literacy Foundation. It has awarded over $135 million in grants to nonprofit organizations as of July 2017. [ Wikipedia ]

WASHINGTON POST

Gary Abernathy July 21

Gary Abernathy is publisher and editor of the (Hillsboro, Ohio) Times-Gazette.

HILLSBORO, Ohio

...maybe I can explain a little more about small-town newspapers — which I have often said are the last newspapers practicing old-school, non-sensationalized journalism — and in so doing perhaps help the head-scratchers better understand Trump country.

One particular response to my op-ed, summarizing probably hundreds of others, surmised that for newspapers like ours, the “biggest news is a new Dollar Store opening and the most column-inches are taken up by the crime report and obituaries. So sad.”

I laughed, in part because the comment hit close to home. In fact, we have done stories on dollar-store openings. In some tiny communities in southern Ohio, the opening of a dollar store is real news because it means that local residents no longer have to drive 30 minutes or more to buy some important household and grocery items.

The reality of life in rural flyover country is lost on those who mock us. These are the places where Donald Trump won the presidency, where people know they are ridiculed by East and West Coast elitists who have little understanding of the meaningful issues — the real news — that affect their lives. Trump identified a common enemy when he took on the media elite, and rural America flocked to his side.

A recent Reuters article on the lack of concern across southern Ohio about the Trump-Russia controversy identified three people at a restaurant in Jackson, Ohio — an hour from Hillsboro — who, when asked about the brouhaha, “stared back blankly.” One of them replied, “I have never heard anything about it.”

How could this be? One reason might be that they have more important things to do than sit glued to cable news. But in addition to the scarcity of grocery choices in some areas, broadband Internet has yet to reach many parts of southern Ohio. One government initiative with wide public support in Trump country is an effort to expand broadband access to more rural residents.

To this day, rural America continues to be portrayed in major media, both news and entertainment, as backward and uneducated. The media often reports that Trump won a majority of voters without college degrees, which is taken by Trump supporters as just a nicer way of being called stupid.

Many people in rural America ply their trades quite successfully without a framed degree in sight. Considered uneducated by the mainstream media, many make more money through farming and various trade skills than most college graduates, and the news that matters to them most is the weather forecast.

Small-town newspapers report hard news and local political controversies. They do investigative reporting and in-depth analysis. They win awards from the Associated Press and other media organizations for their efforts.

But, yes, small-town papers also do stories on dollar-store openings, because sometimes their presence as the only store in town is real news that will affect lives. They do stories on a new doctor coming to town because it often means that specialized treatment will be offered for the first time, which is real news for patients who no longer have to travel to faraway cities.

They feature stories on school bus route changes, real news to parents who might have to get up an hour earlier or make new child-care arrangements. They do features on World War II veterans to honor past generations, and they do features on the achievements of youngsters in 4-H to encourage future generations.

This is the America that Trump embraced. The media’s Russia fixation may not be fake news in the way that Trump uses the phrase. But for millions of Americans, Trump’s claim strikes a chord because the Russia hysteria is not real news, either, not compared with the issues that impact their daily lives.

And when someone tells them they should care more deeply about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer, yes, sometimes they will just shake their heads and stare back blankly.