February 28, 2017


News and Views


http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/02/28/washington-post-just-dropped-new-fbi-trump-russia-bombshell/
Washington Post Just Dropped A New FBI-Trump-Russia Bombshell
BY COLIN TAYLOR
PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 28, 2017

The Washington Post has just announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered former MI6 agent Christopher Steele to continue his investigation into the notorious “golden showers” dossier following the confirmation that the Russians had interfered in the United States 2016 election on behalf of Republican Donald Trump.

There was even talk of payments for him to continue his work – but those discussions were quickly canned as the report leaked to the public and a firestorm of curiosity – and mockery – dominated the news cycle.

Steele is considered a credible source and was instrumental in the FBI’s exposing of a massive corruption scandal within the governing body of international soccer, FIFA.

The Post remarks that crucially, the “FBI’s arrangement with Steele shows that bureau investigators considered him credible and found his line of inquiry to be worthy of pursuit.”

The continued Republican refusal to investigate the Trump-Russia connection means that they are putting the word of a pathological liar over the carefully considered assessment of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and are thus putting our national security in grave danger.

The fact that Republicans, at the behest of Trump, went to the FBI and begged them to bury the Russia story is clear evidence of their own complicity in this potentially treasonous scandal.

The dossier, parts of which have been collaborated by intelligence wiretap s, alleges that the Russian government has compromising video and audio of President Donald Trump engaged in…some unusual acts.

Those acts allegedly involve Donald Trump paying prostitutes to urinate on a bed once slept in by President Obama and First Lady Michelle in a petty act of vengeance from Obama’s mocking of Trump at the 2013 White House Correspondents’ Dinner and a St. Petersberg orgy with still more Russian prostitutes. The Federal Security Service (FSB) allegedly has film and audio of both incidents.

“[the] Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years” says Steele.

The new revelations are yet another indication that there is something very real behind Trump’s Russian scandal. Between the hacks of the Democratic National Committee servers and the email account of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, the secret communications between the Trump team throughout the campaign and after the election, there are too many red flags for this to be swept under the rug.

The vehemency of Trump’s denials is just the caviar on this blini.


COLIN TAYLOR

COLIN TAYLOR IS THE MANAGING EDITOR OF OCCUPY DEMOCRATS. HE GRADUATED FROM BENNINGTON COLLEGE WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN HISTORY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. HE NOW FOCUSES ON ADVANCING THE CAUSE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUALITY IN AMERICA.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rosie-odonnell-slams-media-in-anti-trump-speech/
Trump nemesis Rosie O'Donnell leads rally outside White House
CBS NEWS February 28, 2017, 8:52 PM

One of President Trump’s longtime foes, Rosie O’Donnell, gave a President Trump-like speech filled with accusations and blaming the media at a rally outside the White House on Tuesday ahead of Mr. Trump’s speech before Congress.

The rally, called “A Resistance Address: Defending American Values in a Time of Moral Crisis, was attended by a number of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, MoveOn.org Civic Action, the Hip Hop Caucus and DailyKos, according to NBC Washington.

Clinton brings up Trump's past remarks about women
Play VIDEO
Clinton brings up Trump's past remarks about women

O’Donnell kicked things off by saying “look at this crowd of 1.8 million people,” which she called “Donald Trump math” for a crowd that appeared to be about 200 people. “You say it, the media buys it,” she said.

O’Donnell quoted from the Declaration of Independence, and then said insisted “this is not Russia.” O’Donnell attacked the media for not reporting “the truth,” and she insisted “we will go down and dirty from now on, just Donald Trump.”

“We have seen what you have done, sir,” O’Donnell yelled. “We have seen your connections with Russia – the game is over. The Internet rules – all media is universal. The truth matters, even if our major media companies will not call him a liar, we will. He lies!”

The feud between O’Donnell and Mr. Trump goes back more than a decade. O’Donnell sparked Mr. Trump’s ire back in 2006, when she made jokes about him on “The View,” including calling him a “snake-oil salesman” and slammed his multiple marriage. He responded by calling her a “real loser,” an accusation he continued to lobby against her on Twitter, even after she left “The View.” In 2014, she told People that “the Trump stuff” was “the most bullying I have ever experienced in my life.”

At a Republican debate in 2015, Megyn Kelly asked Mr. Trump about describing women with language such as “fat pigs,” “dogs,” slobs” and “disgusting animals,” Mr. Trump responded “only Rosie O’Donnell.” And in 2016, Mr. Trump referred to her again in a debate with Hillary Clinton, saying that he said very tough things to her and I think everybody would agree she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.”



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-than-100-generals-sign-letter-warning-against-budget-cuts/
More than 100 generals sign letter warning against budget cuts
By KYLIE ATWOOD CBS NEWS
February 28, 2017, 12:40 AM

More than 120 retired generals are making what may seem like a surprising defense of government spending on diplomacy. Their unified perspective is expressed in letter to congressional leadership and was prompted by an announcement of major cuts to the non-defense budget and a corresponding increase of $54 billion to defense spending.

The generals quoted Defense Secretary James Mattis to illustrate their point that foreign policy is not monolithic, and that diplomacy and defense are equal partners in U.S. policy.

“As Secretary James Mattis said while commander of U.S. Central Command, ‘If you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.’”

In Mr. Trump’s first address as president, terror topped his foreign policy agenda.

Previewing President Trump's first address to joint session of Congress
Play VIDEO
Previewing President Trump's first address to joint session of Congress


“We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones -- and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth,” he declared in his inaugural address. Now, through his continued rhetoric and this budget announcement, it is evident that in Trump’s eyes, defending the nation means giving the military all the muscle that they need, to the detriment of diplomatic funding.

The signatories of this letter disagree that foreign policy should be approached purely as a militaristic endeavor. One signer is Marine Gen. John R. Allen, a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general, former top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and 2014-2015 Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL appointed by President Obama.

“Cutting the State Department budget by 30 percent is consigning us to a generational war. We cannot fight our way out of this. It is an issue which can be decided by decisive diplomacy and enlightened development,” General Allen told CBS News.

“If [the president] wants to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism, his only hope of doing it is not through an interminable war on Islam. It is by funding the very things in the State Department that give us the capacity to work with other countries and to help, in the context of development, to change the human condition in places in the world where young men and women are radicalized by virtue of the social environments they are in. They are pushed into the arms of extremists who we must fight.”

Other prominent generals who signed the letter include former NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander and former Army Chief of Staff Gen. William Casey.

What is the United States' priority in the war against ISIS?
Play VIDEO
What is the United States' priority in the war against ISIS?

The letter was coordinated by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a group of business executives, foreign-policy experts and retired senior military officials who advocate for using diplomacy with defense -- not instead of it. They addressed their letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. There were also copies sent to the State Department, the Department of Defense and Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.

“We know from our service in uniform that many of the crises our nation faces do not have military solutions alone -- from confronting violent extremist groups like ISIS in the Middle East and North Africa to preventing pandemics like Ebola and stabilizing weak and fragile states that can lead to greater instability,” the generals wrote.

Specific numbers regarding the State Department cuts have not been made public, but State Department employees are on edge. They don’t want to see a sledgehammer approach applied to the funding for their diplomatic work. Some fear that these cuts will lead to a destruction of government rather than what Trump’s Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon calls “a deconstruction of the administrative state.”

“The Department is working with the White House and OMB to review its budget priorities,” wrote Mark Toner, acting State Department spokesperson. “The Department remains committed to a U.S. foreign policy that advances the security and prosperity of the American people.”

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright declared the proposed cuts will “undercut American diplomacy, which is important for national security.” She made those comments on Monday night on a panel for J-Street, a group of liberal pro-Israel Americans.

Though Trump is not known for listening closely to critiques, he has shown some inclination toward the generals he has among his own staff and Cabinet, including national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster.




http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/27/pro-trump-town-riled-up-after-immigration-officials-arrest-popular-restaurant-manager.html

IMMIGRATION
Pro-Trump town riled up after immigration officials arrest popular restaurant manager
Published February 27, 2017
· Associated Press

Photograph of airport scene, (AP)

WEST FRANKFORT, Ill. – A southern Illinois community that solidly backed President Donald Trump has rallied behind a Mexican restaurant manager who doesn't have legal permission to live in the U.S. and has been detained by immigration officials.

Letters of support for Juan Carlos Hernandez Pacheco have poured in from West Frankfort's mayor, police chief, high school athletic director and the county prosecutor. They describe Hernandez as a role model and praise his robust civil involvement, including funding school scholarships, benefit dinners for families in need and hosting a law enforcement appreciation event.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TAKES REFUGE IN DENVER CHURCH TO AVOID DEPORTATION

Hernandez, 38, came to the U.S. in the 1990s but didn't obtain legal status, according to friends. He has been the manager of La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant for a decade in the community with coal mining roots, about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.

He was arrested at his home earlier this month and remains in custody at a U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility outside St. Louis. ICE officials did not explain why Pacheco was arrested, but noted his drunken-driving convictions from 2007.

Some residents in the community of roughly 8,000 didn't know Hernandez lacked legal status in the U.S. until word spread of his arrest.

IN FACE OF RISING DEPORTATION, IMMIGRANTS INCREASINGLY
FORCED TO FIGHT ALONE

Though the community largely backed Trump — who has made an aggressive stance on immigration central to his agenda and has promised to deport millions of immigrants who have no permission to live here — many residents of West Frankfort said Hernandez' case has complicated their views on immigration policy.

"I think people need to do things the right way, follow the rules and obey the laws, and I firmly believe in that," Lori Barron, the owner of a beauty salon, told The New York Times. "But in the case of Carlos, I think he may have done more for the people here than this place has ever given him. I think it's absolutely terrible that he could be taken away."

DHS DEPORTATION SHIFT FUELS MEXICO TENSIONS AHEAD OF TILLERSON TRIP

Hernandez' attorney is pushing for him to be freed on bond until his case can be heard.

His wife, Elizabeth Hernandez, and three children are U.S. citizens. She told The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan that she hopes her husband can come home and "continue his efforts on becoming an American citizen, something that he has wished for a very long time."



https://www.yahoo.com/gma/man-tried-stop-kansas-shooting-says-more-happy-115609456--abc-news-topstories.html
Good Morning America
Man who tried to stop Kansas shooting says he was 'more than happy' to risk his life to save others
KARMA ALLEN, Good Morning America
February 27, 2017

A Kansas man who’s been called a hero for trying to stop a deadly shooting last week said he was "happy" to risk his life to save others and that he's grateful for how his community has united following the incident.

Ian Grillot, 24, intervened to stop a gunman who witnesses said yelled "get out of my country" before shooting two Indian men in Olathe, Kansas last Wednesday, killing one.

Adam Purinton, a 51-year-old Navy veteran and former air traffic controller, is being charged with murder and attempted murder in the shooting that killed Srinivas Kuchibhotla and wounded Alok Madasani, both 32-year-old employees of the technology company Garmin.

Authorities are investigating if the shooting was a hate crime. Purinton is being held on a $2 million bond and is scheduled make his first court appearance on Monday.

“This is a very bad way of it happening, but, I'm so grateful that it is actually bringing the community together instead of driving them apart," Grillot said in an interview posted on the University of Kansas Hospital's YouTube page on Sunday. “It is such a beautiful thing. I love it.

“I was more than happy to risk my life to save the lives of others,” Grillot said. “I thank everybody for drawing together and supporting me and the other families affected by this.”

Grillot said he is recovering from gunshot wounds to his hand and chest. He said he was “doing a lot better,” but still sore and feeling the aftermath from “the bullet lodged in my ribs.”

People traveled from as far as India and Washington, D.C. to attend a prayer vigil for Kuchibhotla and the other victims in Olathe on Sunday.

Representative Kevin Yoder (R-Kan) attended the vigil and posted about it on his Instagram account, calling the incident a "great tragedy" and saying "thousands of concerned citizens came together to support one another and the Indian community."

He also urged people to remember Kuchibhotla’s life as well as Grillot’s “heroism.”

Many of the vigil’s attendees, including Mike Johns of Olathe, said they were there to rally for peace.

“This isn’t Selma, but this is close,” Johns told ABC affiliate KMBC on Sunday. “We’re marching, just like Dr. Martin Luther King [Jr.] did, for peace.“

ABC News' Devin Villacis and the Associated Press contributed to this report.




http://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-trump-healthcare-complicated-obamacare-2017-2
Bernie Sanders burst into laughter at Trump's claim that 'nobody knew healthcare would be this complicated'
Bob Bryan
February 28, 2017

Photographs – Cooper and Sanders
PLAY VIDEO also.

During a meeting with US governors on Monday, President Donald Trump said the reason for the slowdown on the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act was in part because "nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated."

Sen. Bernie Sanders disagrees.

When asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday night about the "complicated" comment, Sanders immediately burst into laughter.

"Some of us who were sitting on the health and education committee, who went to meeting after meeting after meeting, who heard from dozens of people, who stayed up night after night trying to figure out this thing, yeah, we got a clue," Sanders said. "When you provide healthcare in a nation of 320 million people, yeah, it is very, very complicated."

Trump said in interviews before he took office that he wanted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law better known as Obamacare, within weeks of his inauguration. At a press conference on January 11, however, Trump said the repeal-and-replace process would be "very complicated stuff."

Recently, the timeline for a replacement bill has stretched out. Republicans are facing issues within their own party, as different factions of lawmakers disagree on how best to overhaul the healthcare system.

"Maybe now, maybe the president and some of the Republicans understand you can't go beyond the rhetoric," Sanders said. "'We're going to repeal the Affordable Care Act, we're going to repeal Obamacare, and everything will be wonderful.' Well it's a little more complicated than that."

Sanders, the independent Vermont senator who ran as a Democrat in the 2016 presidential campaign and who caucuses with Democrats, has been fighting with the party against the repeal, pointing to the more than 20 million people who have gained insurance under provisions of the ACA.

"You mean to say that Democrats should work with Republicans to repeal this legislation?" Sanders said. "No, I don't think our job is to work with them to repeal the legislation — our job is to work with them to improve the legislation."




“NOT AS THOROUGH …” DOES THIS MEAN UNDESIRABLE SECTIONS HAVE BEEN EDITED OUT?

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/department-of-homeland-securitys-intel-wing-in-crisis-mode-over-travel-ban/
Dept. of Homeland Security's intel wing in crisis mode over travel ban
By JEF?F PEGUES CBS NEWS
February 28, 2017, 5:46 PM

Play VIDEO -- Trump delays travel ban as top cabinet secretaries head to Mexico
Play VIDEO -- What we know about Trump's upcoming immigration order’


WASHINGTON -- CBS News has learned that the intelligence arm of the Department of Homeland security is now in crisis mode.

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis was originally tasked with producing an intel document tied to the Executive Order which temporarily instituted a travel ban on people from seven countries. But leaks caused the process to spill out into the public amid concerns the intelligence assessments were being tainted by politics.

Former and current government sources say DHS’s intelligence unit is splitting in two, and there is currently no way of resolving the standoff. The atmosphere has been described as toxic, and some of those involved are considering seeking whistleblower status or legal representation.

The initial assessment found that citizenship was “likely an unreliable indicator of [the] terrorist threat to the United States.”

The document, which was leaked to the AP last week, also found that citizens of the seven countries impacted by the executive order were “rarely implicated in U.S. based Terrorism.”

When it was leaked, DHS officials claimed that the document was not as thorough as they would have liked it to be, even though it had been prepared by experienced intelligence officers.

Plans were made, with the blessing of the White House, to draft another assessment with the help of other intelligence agencies. Some of the contributors to the original report refused to work on the final product because they were concerned that the process had been tainted by politics.

With the White House preparing to re-introduce the travel ban Executive Order Wednesday, sources say the administration was seeking to bolster the order with intelligence documents pointing to the threat. But the original assessment was rejected by DHS officials.

On Tuesday, in response to questions about the discord in the intelligence unit, a spokesperson told CBS News, “DHS stands by its previous statements on the incomplete intelligence document.”

The spokesperson added, “This was an open source document deemed to be incomplete as an intelligence product by I&A leadership. Other federal law enforcement agencies did not concur with this product because classified and sensitive law enforcement information was needed to provide a complete intelligence assessment.”

The Office of Intelligence and Analysis serves both the federal government but also cities across the country. Its mission is to provide intelligence and information to keep the nation safe and secure. The disarray could have an effect on the intelligence information disseminated to agencies nationwide.



http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/politics/donald-trump-white-house-staffer-cell-phones-leaks/index.html
Sources: Trump signed off on checking White House staffers' phones
By Jeff Zeleny and Daniella Diaz, CNN
Updated 1:43 AM ET, Tue February 28, 2017

VIDEOS CNN NEWS STAFF


HO HUMMMM. LISTEN TO ADVICE?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-ignores-some-good-advice-counter-terrorism
Trump ignores some good advice on counter-terrorism
02/28/17 11:15 AM
By Steve Benen

Photograph -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks with press on Sept. 5, 2016, aboard his campaign plane, while flying over Ohio, as Vice presidential candidate Gov. Mike Pence looks on. Photo by Evan Vucci/AP

George W. Bush and Barack Obama disagreed on many issues, but both understood that combating terrorism by shouting “radical Islam” at every available opportunity was counter-productive. This, for deeply foolish reasons, has driven many Republicans increasingly batty.

For much of the right, the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” has taken on magical qualities: to keep Americans safe, the argument goes, one must embrace the phrase and use it constantly. As conservatives have been reminded many times, this plays directly into the strategy ISIS and al Qaeda prefer.

Donald Trump doesn’t care. As a Republican candidate, Trump went so far as to argue, in all seriousness, that President Obama “should resign in disgrace” unless his rhetoric matches exactly with what the right wants to hear. As a Republican president, Trump and his aides have already used “radical Islamic terrorism” repeatedly.

In an interesting twist, however, the amateur president is getting some good advice on the matter from his new National Security Advisor. Politico reported this morning:

President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, advised him in a closed-door meeting last week to stop using a phrase that was a frequent refrain during the campaign: “radical Islamic terrorism.”

But the phrase will be in the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, according to a senior White House aide – even though McMaster reviewed drafts and his staff pressed the president’s chief speechwriter and senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller, not to use it.

This isn’t surprising, but it’s nevertheless disheartening. After Michael Flynn was forced to resign, Trump brought in McMaster, a decorated and respect career officer, to advise him on matters of national security. The president, however, apparently remains more committed to dumb campaign rhetoric than his NSA’s expert guidance.

Note, this isn’t the first time McMaster has brought up the issue since joining Trump’s White House team. In a story that was first broken on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” we learned that McMaster told the staff of the National Security Council – during his first meeting in his new post – he has no use for Trump’s framing. As the New York Times reported, McCaster told his team “that the label ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ was not helpful because terrorists are ‘un-Islamic.’”

The question isn’t who’s right, because we already know McMaster’s approach is the sensible one. Rather, the question is whether Trump will prioritize good advice on national security from his hand-picked expert or partisan nonsense.

Explore:
The MaddowBlog, Counter-Terrorism, Donald Trump, Islam and National Security


TRUMP DONE GOOD HERE – UNLESS BEING UNDER HIS PROTECTION ISN’T A REALLY GOOD THING …

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-issues-executive-orders-on-hbcus-environmental-regulations/
Trump issues executive orders on HBCUs, environmental regulations
By JACQUELINE ALEMANY CBS NEWS
February 28, 2017, 5:00 AM

Play VIDEO -- What to expect in President Trump's address to joint session of Congress


President Trump will sign an executive order to bolster historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on Tuesday. The order will do this by moving the moving the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which was previously part of the Department of Education, back to the White House.

The administration says this action will encourage strategic partnerships with other agencies and outside groups by giving it greater visibility. The United Negro College Fund had requested that Mr. Trump move the Initiative to the White House and be led by a person “who reports to a senior advisor to the president,” according to The Washington Post.

Dozens of HBCU leaders gathered at the White House on Monday where they briefly met Mr. Trump in the Oval Office before meeting with Vice President Mike Pence. The order is a signal that the Trump administration plans to make HBCUs a priority, boosting Trump’s “urban agenda,” a senior White House office told reporters in a briefing.

The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities was started by President Jimmy Carter, but the Trump administration says the office has “lost track because they didn’t have the full force of the White House behind it.”

Mr. Trump, who is expected to list campaign promises he has fulfilled and executive orders he has signed during his first Presidential address, will also sign an executive order that will instruct a review of the Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The order is aimed to dismantle the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule that expanded federal protection of wetlands, streams, and waterways throughout the country.

Scott Pruitt, the new head of the EPA, filed an anti-WOTUS lawsuit against the EPA in 2015 when he was the Oklahoma Attorney General. Mr. Trump also vowed to kill various environmental regulations on the campaign trail.

The pen-happy President will also sign two bills: the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers and Innovators and Explorers Act (INSPIRE) act and Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act. INSPIRE, first introduced by Virginia Congresswomen Barbara Comstock, authorizes NASA to encourage women to pursue careers in engineering, science, and mathematics.

The Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act authorizes the National Science Foundation to provide support for women’s entrepreneurial programs.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jewish-centers-cope-with-bomb-threats-officials-plan-headstone-repairs/
Jewish centers cope with bomb threats, officials plan headstone repairs
CBS/AP
February 28, 2017, 12:12 AM

Photograph -- cemetery.jpg, Damaged headstones rest on the ground at Mount Carmel Cemetery on Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Philadelphia. JACQUELINE LARMA, AP
Play VIDEO -- Jewish cemetery vandalized in Philadelphia
Play VIDEO -- Vice President Mike Pence visits vandalized Jewish cemetery in Missouri

Jewish centers and schools across the nation coped with another wave of bomb threats Monday as officials in Philadelphia made plans to repair and restore hundreds of vandalized headstones at a Jewish cemetery.

Jewish Community Centers and day schools in at least a dozen states received threats, according to the JCC Association of North America. No bombs were found. All 21 buildings -- 13 community centers and eight schools -- were cleared by Monday afternoon and had resumed normal operations, the association said.

It was the fifth round of bomb threats against Jewish institutions since January, prompting outrage and exasperation among Jewish leaders as well as calls for an aggressive federal response to put a stop to it.

In Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a Jewish Community Center was evacuated Monday morning after a threatening call, CBS News’ Jeff Pegues reported. Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least 90 similar phone calls across 30 states and one Canadian province.

A U.S. official says the calls appear to be coordinated. Some may be originating from overseas. They range from individuals phoning in threats to machine-generated or altered calls.

The phone threats have targeted Jewish Community Centers in waves from East to West coast. They usually come around late morning when centers are in full use, Pegues reported.

“The Justice Department, Homeland Security, the FBI, and the White House, alongside Congress and local officials, must speak out -- and speak out forcefully -- against this scourge of anti-Semitism impacting communities across the country,” said David Posner, an official with JCC Association of North America. “Members of our community must see swift and concerted action from federal officials to identify and capture the perpetrator or perpetrators who are trying to instill anxiety and fear in our communities.”

The FBI and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are probing the threats.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the vandalism and bomb threats serious, unacceptable behavior and said the department will “do what it can to assist in pushing back ... and prosecuting anybody that we can prove to be a part of it.”

“We are a nation that is a diverse constituency, and we don’t need these kind of activities,” Sessions said.

In Philadelphia, police investigated what they called an “abominable crime” after several hundred headstones were damaged during the weekend at Mount Carmel Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery dating to the late 1800s, said Steven Rosenberg, chief marketing officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Police said the vandalism appeared to be targeted at the Jewish community, though they cautioned they had not confirmed the motive. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said authorities were doing everything possible to find those “who desecrated this final resting place.”

“I’m hoping it was maybe just some drunk kids,” said Aaron Mallin, who discovered the damage during a visit to his father’s grave. “But the fact that there’s so many, it leads one to think it could have been targeted,” he told WPVI-TV.

Following the vandalism, nearly 200 interfaith leaders from several religions gathered at the Lutheran Seminary in the Germantown section of Philadelphia to stand in solidarity, CBS Philly reported.

People from all backgrounds have stood up in solidarity, including some in the Muslim community like Salaam Bahatti, who said his community knows what it is like to be targeted.

“Any targeting of any faith is an attack on all faiths ... If they come for the Jews they will come for us soon enough,” Bahatti said.

The vandalism came less than a week after a Jewish cemetery in suburban St. Louis was targeted. More than 150 headstones there were damaged, many of them tipped over.

Both acts of vandalism spurred offers of help.

The Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, an umbrella group for more than 50 union locals that work in the construction industry, offered to repair the damage at Mount Carmel free of charge, calling it a “cowardly act of anti-Semitism that cannot be tolerated.” A community cleanup organized by the Jewish Federation was to begin Tuesday with as many as 50 volunteers per hour.

And in Missouri, a Muslim crowdfunding effort to support the vandalized Jewish cemetery near St. Louis had raised more than $136,000 by Monday, with organizers announcing they would use some of the money for the Philadelphia cemetery.

Monday’s bomb threats caused no physical damage but were no less worrisome.

“There’s plenty of people who are scared,” said Rosenberg, who denounced the hoaxsters as “an embarrassment to civilized society.”

Some 200 people were evacuated from a Jewish Community Center in York, Pennsylvania, after a caller told the front desk there was a bomb in the building, said Melissa Plotkin, the York JCC’s director of community engagement and diversity. Police entered the building and cleared it, she said.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, who has long ties to the York center, having served on its board, called the bomb threats and cemetery vandalism reprehensible.

“These acts are cowardly and disturbing,” Wolf told reporters in a conference call Monday. “We must find those responsible and hold them accountable for these hate crimes.”

Jewish centers and schools in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia also were threatened, according to the JCC Association of North America.

Paul Goldenberg, director of the Secure Community Network, a nonprofit founded by several national Jewish groups to bolster security in the Jewish community, said Jewish Community Centers and other Jewish institutions have extensive security protocols in place.

After dealing with Monday’s threats, he said, the “Jewish community is back in business.”



TODAY’S GOOGLE DOODLE PAKISTANI PHILANTHROPIST

https://www.yahoo.com/news/google-doodle-honors-pakistani-humanitarian-115446049.html

Google Doodle Honors Pakistani Humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi
Vishakha Sonawane
International Business Times
February 28, 2017

Photograph -- Abdul Sattar Edhi is credited with the establishment of Pakistan’s largest volunteer ambulance network — the Edhi Foundation

Google celebrated the life and work of late Pakistani humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi with a doodle on his 89th birthday Tuesday. He is credited with the establishment Pakistan’s largest volunteer ambulance network — the Edhi Foundation.

Edhi, who was born Feb. 28, 1928 in the western Indian state of Gujarat, moved to the Pakistani city of Karachi after the country was formed in 1947. After shifting to Karachi, he noticed an abject lack of medicine, proper educational institutions and other essentials, prompting him to serve the people. In 1951, he established the Edhi Foundation — funded by private donations.

The foundation is currently the largest welfare organization in the South Asian country and has rescued over 20,000 abandoned babies, helped about 50,000 orphans and trained over 40,000 nurses so far.

In 2005, Edhi’s foundation raised $100,000 in aid relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Edhi died last July in Karachi due to renal failure. He insisted on being treated at a government hospital in Pakistan, refusing an offer to be treated abroad.

Here are a few quotes by Edhi:

“People know that I have adopted four principles in living my life: simple living, punctuality, hard work and prudence.”

“No religion is higher than humanity.”

“You have to care for all beings created by God...My mission is to help any person in need.”

“I believe in nature and humanity and am here to serve the common people of Pakistan. There is a great deal of suffering in this country and I'm here to help.”

“My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world.”

“I do not have any formal education. What use is education when we do not become human beings? My school is the welfare of humanity.”

“So, many years later there were many who still complained and questioned, ‘Why must you pick up Christians and Hindus in your ambulance?’ And I was saying, ‘Because the ambulance is more Muslim than you’.”

“Those who believed in changing the world were either hungry by circumstance or practiced deprivation by choice.”

“Appearance is a distraction, surrendering it develops truth and humility in abundance.”

“I do this work for the common people and part of that work is creating a general awareness of such problems as they exist because my work is beyond class, religion and creed.”

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