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Silk Road - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...silk-road

history

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  • The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe.
  • Trade along the so-called Silk Road economic belt included fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain, leather and hides, tools, religious objects, artwork, precious stones and metals and—perhaps more importantly—language, culture, religious beliefs, philosophy and science.
  • The Silk Road may have formally opened up trade between the Far East and Europe during the Han Dynasty, which ruled China from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D
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  • Interestingly, the ancient Greek word for China is “Seres,” which literally means “the land of silk.”
  • Historians now prefer the term “Silk Routes,” which more accurately reflects the fact that there was more than one thoroughfare.
  • The Silk Road routes included a large network of strategically located trading posts, markets and thoroughfares designed to streamline the transport, exchange, distribution and storage of goods.
  • Silk Road routes also led to ports on the Persian Gulf, where goods were then transported up the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
  • Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today.
  • Commodities such as paper and gunpowder, both invented by the Chinese during the Han Dynasty, had obvious and lasting impacts on culture and history in the West. They were also among the most-traded items between the East and West.
  • paper’s arrival in Europe fostered significant industrial change, with the written word becoming a key form of mass communication for the first time.
  • Similarly, techniques for making glass migrated eastward to China from the Islamic world.
  • The Silk Road routes also opened up means of passage for explorers seeking to better understand the culture and geography of the Far East.
  • Venetian explorer Marco Polo famously used the Silk Road to travel from Italy to China, which was then under the control of the Mongolian Empire, where they arrived in 1275.
  • His journeys across the Silk Road became the basis for his book, "The Travels of Marco Polo," which gave Europeans a better understanding of Asian commerce and culture.
brookegoodman

Charlemagne - Biography, Significance & Death - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...charlemagne

history

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  • Charlemagne (c.742-814), also known as Karl and Charles the Great, was a medieval emperor who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814. In 771,
  • Charlemagne had multiple wives and mistresses and perhaps as many as 18 children. He was reportedly a devoted father, who encouraged his children’s education.
  • Charlemagne’s empire encompassed much of Western Europe, and he had also ensured the survival of Christianity in the West. Today, Charlemagne is referred to by some as the father of Europe.
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  • he displayed a talent for languages and could speak Latin and understand Greek, among other languages.
  • After Pepin’s death in 768, the Frankish kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman (751-771).
  • In order to carry out this mission, he spent the majority of his reign engaged in military campaigns.
  • Charlemagne waged a bloody, three-decades-long series of battles against the Saxons, a Germanic tribe of pagan worshippers, and earned a reputation for ruthlessness.
  • He embarked on a mission to unite all Germanic peoples into one kingdom, and convert his subjects to Christianity
  • He promoted education and encouraged the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of renewed emphasis on scholarship and culture.
  • He instituted economic and religious reforms, and was a driving force behind the Carolingian miniscule, a standardized form of writing that later became a basis for modern European printed alphabets.
  • Charlemagne was interested in athletic pursuits.
  • he enjoyed hunting, horseback riding and swimming
  • Louis became sole emperor when Charlemagne died in January 814, ending his reign of more than four decades. At the time of his death, his empire encompassed much of Western Europe.
  • Charlemagne was canonized for political reasons; however, the church today does not recognize his sainthood.
brookegoodman

Crusades: Definition, Religious Wars & Facts - HISTORY - 0 views

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  • The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims started primarily to secure control of holy sites considered sacred by both groups.
  • Byzantium had lost considerable territory to the invading Seljuk Turks
  • In November 1095, at the Council of Clermont in southern France, the Pope called on Western Christians to take up arms to aid the Byzantines and recapture the Holy Land from Muslim control. This marked the beginning of the Crusades.
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  • A less organized band of knights and commoners known as the “People’s Crusade” set off before the others under the command of a popular preacher known as Peter the Hermit.
  • Encamping before Jerusalem in June 1099, the Christians forced the besieged city’s governor to surrender by mid-July.
  • Muslim forces began gaining ground in their own holy war (or jihad) against the Christians, whom they called “Franks.”
  • News of Edessa’s fall stunned Europe and caused Christian authorities in the West to call for another Crusade
  • In September 1191, Richard’s forces defeated those of Saladin in the battle of Arsuf, which would be the only true battle of the Third Crusade.
  • In response, the Crusaders declared war on Constantinople, and the Fourth Crusade ended with the devastating Fall of Constantinople, marked by a bloody conquest, looting and near-destruction of the magnificent Byzantine capital later that year.
  • Throughout the remainder of the 13th century, a variety of Crusades aimed not so much to topple Muslim forces in the Holy Land but to combat any and all of those seen as enemies of the Christian faith.
  • A so-called Children’s Crusade took place in 1212 when thousands of young children vowed to march to Jerusalem
  • From 1248 to 1254, Louis IX of France organized a crusade against Egypt. This battle, known as the Seventh Crusade, was a failure for Louis.
  • a new dynasty, known as the Mamluks, descended from former slaves of the Islamic Empire, took power in Egypt
  • In 1291, one of the only remaining Crusader cities, Acre, fell to the Muslim Mamluks.
  • While the Crusades ultimately resulted in defeat for Europeans and a Muslim victory, many argue that they successfully extended the reach of Christianity and Western civilization.
  • Trade and transportation also improved throughout Europe as a result of the Crusades.
  • After the Crusades, there was a heightened interest in travel and learning throughout Europe, which some historians believe may have paved the way for the Renaissance.
  • the Crusaders were regarded as immoral, bloody and savage.
  • Even today, some Muslims derisively refer to the West’s involvement in the Middle East as a “crusade.”
brookegoodman

These Are the 7 Weapons the Barbarians Used to Take Down Rome - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...7-legendary-barbarian-weapons

history

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  • The Battle-Axe
  • Germanic soldiers were known to wield heavy battle-axes capable of smashing through shield, armor and helmet in a single blow.
  • “The iron head of this weapon was thick and exceedingly sharp on both sides while wooden handle was very short,”
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  • The double-edged long sword was the main weapon of the Gauls,
  • The Long Sword
  • The axe was one of the many barbarian weapons that carried over into the medieval world.
  • Julius Caesar became the first Roman general to encounter the war chariots of the native Celtic tribes.
  • chainmail, which may have been invented in Europe by the Gallic Celts in the third century B.C. Most Gallic mail took the form of a short-sleeved shirt or vest made from an interlocking mesh of small metal rings. This provided flexibility while also protecting the wearer from slashing blows by swords and daggers,
  • Chainmail was extremely labor intensive to make—a single vest might include tens of thousands of rings
  • The Celtic Chariot
  • Chainmail
  • . The Falcata
  • When the Romans invaded modern day Spain in 218 B.C., they came face to face with a barbarian tribe known as the Celtiberians. These warriors were renowned both for their guerilla fighting ability and their skill as sword-smiths and metalworkers.
  • “falcata,” a curved, two-foot-long steel sword that was single-edged near the hilt and double-edged near the point. The weapon was weighted towards the tip, which allowed it to slash or stab its way through armor with relative ease.
  • The Recurve Bow
  • Attila and his Hun steppe marauders invaded Europe from the East and cut a bloody swath across the Roman Empire
  • Most Hun warriors carried composite bows assembled from wood, sinew, horn and bone. Unlike the Western bow, these steppe weapons were made to curve back on themselves at the ends, which generated added torque and made arrows fly with enough velocity to penetrate armor at 100 yards
  • Siege Towers and Battering Rams
  • Unlike most barbarian groups, the Huns were particularly proficient at siege warfare.
  • Huns used massive, wheeled siege towers to move protected archers close to the battlements and rain arrows onto the city’s defenders. They also pummeled the city’s walls with huge battering rams, which Priscus described as “a beam with a sharp metal point suspended on chains hung loosely from a V-shaped timber frame.”
brookegoodman

8 Ways Roads Helped Rome Rule the Ancient World - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...ed-rome-rule-the-ancient-world

history

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  • They were the key to Rome’s military might.
  • The first major Roman road—the famed Appian Way, or “queen of the roads”—was constructed in 312 B.C. to serve as a supply route between republican Rome and its allies in Capua during the Second Samnite War.
  • Reduced travel time and marching fatigue allowed the fleet-footed legions to move as quickly as 20 miles a day to respond to outside threats and internal uprisings.
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  • They were incredibly efficient.
  • they often followed a remarkably straight trail across the countryside
  • weary travelers could guide themselves by a detailed collection of mile markers.
  • their design always employed multiple layers for durability and flatness.
  • Roads were built with a crown and adjacent ditches to ensure easy water drainage, and in some rainy regions they were even nestled on raised berms known as “aggers” to prevent flooding.
  • They were easy to navigate.
  • They were expertly engineered.
  • “all roads lead to Rome,”
  • They included a sophisticated network of post houses and roadside inns.
  • Roman roads were also lined with state-run hotels and way stations.
  • horse changing stations, or “mutationes,” which were located every ten miles along most routes.
  • Switching horses was especially important for imperial couriers, who were tasked with carrying communications and tax revenues around the Empire at breakneck speed.
  • They were well-protected and patrolled.
  • most Roman roads were patrolled by special detachments of imperial army troops known as “stationarii” and “beneficiarii.”
  • hey also doubled as toll collectors.
  • They allowed the Romans to fully map their growing empire.
  • the Peutinger Table is a 13th century copy of an actual Roman map created sometime around the 4th century A.D.
  • They were built to last.
  • Roman roads remained technologically unequaled until as recently as the 19th century.
  • Many Roman roads were used as major thoroughfares until only recently,
  • Rome’s enduring engineering legacy can also be seen in the dozens of ancient bridges, tunnels and aqueducts still in use today.
brookegoodman

Huns - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...huns

history

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  • The Huns were nomadic warriors who terrorized much of Europe and the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. They were impressive horsemen best known for their astounding military achievements
  • Huns acquired a reputation for being ruthless, indomitable savages.
  • No one knows exactly where the Huns came from.
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  • The Great Wall of China was reportedly built to help protect against the mighty Xiongnu.
  • Prior to the 4th century, the Huns traveled in small groups led by chieftains and had no known individual king or leader.
  • the Huns’ main weapon was fear.
  • They lived off the land as hunter-gatherers, dining on wild game and gathering roots and herbs.
  • They moved fast and swiftly on the battlefield and fought in seeming disarray, which confused their foes and kept them on the run.
  • heir arrows could strike a man 80 yards away and seldom missed their mark.
  • according to legend, their faces were cut at a young age with a sword to teach them to endure pain.
  • The Huns killed men, women and children alike and decimated almost everything and everyone in their path
  • Some Roman Christians believed they were devils arrived straight from hell.
  • By 430 A.D., the Hun tribes had united and were ruled by King Rugila and his brother, Octar.
  • the Huns changed from a group of nomadic warrior tribes to a somewhat settled civilization living in the Great Hungarian Plain in eastern Europe
  • Another peace treaty was forged in 442, but Attila attacked again in 443, killing, ransacking and pillaging his way to the well-fortified city of Constantinople and earning the nickname, “the scourge of God.”
  • Attila invaded Gaul, which included modern-day France, northern Italy and western Germany, in 451
  • The foes met on the battlefield in the Catalaunian Plains of eastern France. The Huns put up an impressive fight, but they’d finally met their match. The Romans and Visigoths had learned much from previous encounters with the Huns and fought them hand-to-hand and on horseback.
  • Roman alliance had forced the Hun army to retreat. It was Attila’s first and only military defeat.
  • St. Paul and St. Peter appeared to Attila and threatened to kill him if he didn’t negotiate with Pope Leo I.
  • Attila had made his oldest son Ellac his successor, but all his sons fought a civil war for power until the Hun Empire was divided between them. Without Attila at the helm, however, the weakened Huns fell apart and were no longer a major threat.
  • By 459, the Hun Empire had collapsed
brookegoodman

Why Ancient Rome Needed Immigrants to Become Powerful - HISTORY - 0 views

www.history.com/...cient-rome-immigration-slavery

history

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  • Although the Roman elites sneered at immigrants, the emperors welcomed them into the labor force and military,
  • Rome became a melting pot, in many ways as much a Greek city as a Latin one, and with African, Celtic, Egyptian, German and Jewish populations as well.
  • Between roughly 300 BC and AD 200, millions of immigrants came to Italy.
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  • with a population of about a million, Rome was the largest city in Europe or the Mediterranean
  • The emperors embraced the newcomers, less out of idealism than out of self-interest
  • The Roman Republic had granted citizenship to all the free people of Italy
  • The nobles never really accepted other Italians as equals.
  • As brutal as Roman slavery was it offered many more paths to manumission than American slavery did.
  • Augustus, the first emperor, was part Roman noble; his other ancestors were wealthy Italians. The first Christian emperor, Constantine, reached the throne nearly 350 year later.
  • In between these two men came emperors from Spain, North Africa, Croatia, Serbia, and Syria. They reflected the diversity of the empire they had made.
  • The immigrants changed Rome but Rome changed the immigrants in turn.
brookegoodman

Joe Biden apologises for 1998 remark on lynching - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...50147048

trump politics us

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  • After decrying President Donald Trump for labelling impeachment a "lynching", his rival Joe Biden has apologised for once having made similar remarks.
  • Mr Biden, a top Democratic presidential candidate, said it was "abhorrent" and "despicable" that Mr Trump tweeted the racially loaded term on Tuesday.
  • Lynching refers to historic killings by white mobs mainly against black people.
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  • But it was later revealed that several Democratic lawmakers who criticised Mr Trump for the "lynching" comment had used the same word in the 1990s to defend Mr Clinton.
  • The furore began on Tuesday morning when Mr Trump tweeted to criticise the congressional inquiry that may seek to remove him from office.
  • Mr Clinton was impeached in December 1998 by the House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstruction of justice during the investigation into his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
  • Mr Biden, then a senator for the state of Delaware, joined the majority of the Senate in voting to acquit Mr Clinton.
  • According to the Washington Post, several other Democrats in the House of Representatives talked about a "lynching" or "lynch mob" in reference to the Clinton probe.
  • "There is a difference when that word is used by someone of my experience and perspective, whose relatives were the targets of lynch mobs, compared to a president who has dog-whistled to white nationalists and peddled racism."
brookegoodman

Paris Agreement: Trump confirms US will leave climate accord - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-us-canada-50165596

trump politics us crisis obama

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  • The US will definitely withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, President Trump has confirmed.
  • He described the accord as a bad deal and said his pro fossil fuel policies had made the US an energy superpower.
  • It committed the US to cutting greenhouse gases up to 28% by 2025 based on 2005 levels.
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  • Mr Trump promised that he’d turn the US into an energy superpower, and he’s attempting to sweep away a raft of pollution legislation to reduce the cost of producing gas, oil and coal.He categorised former US President Barack Obama’s environmental clean-up plans as a war on American energy.
  • The Beijing government is having difficulty persuading provincial leaders to abandon coal plants for which they have taken heavy loans.
  • Campaigners say these now represent nearly 70% of US GDP and nearly 65% of the US population.
  • China - the current top emitter - and India still have relatively low per capita emissions, but Mr Trump said they shouldn’t be allowed to phase out fossil fuels more slowly than the US.
  • Environmentalists say Mr Obama would have acted quickly to press Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro to tackle forest fires in the Amazon
  • As extreme weather events alarm the world’s scientists, diplomats will meet in a few weeks in Chile to figure out the path ahead.
  • the formal withdrawal would make it difficult for the US to be part of the global conversation.
brookegoodman

What Trump supporters think of impeachment - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-us-canada-50017561

trump politics us culture

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  • "It's the first time I've worn my cap downtown," confesses Jake Biehn as he waits for President Donald Trump's rally to start in Minneapolis, a city currently run by Democrats.
  • If anything, it has galvanised the thousands of supporters some of whom queued for days to be at the front of the Target Center crowd when he stepped out to a rock star's welcome.
  • Mr Trump tells the crowd: "They want to erase your vote like it never existed. They want to erase your voice and they want to erase your future. "But they will fail because in America, the people rule again."
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  • Mr Trump and his supporters allege that Mr Biden abused his power to persuade Ukraine to back away from a criminal investigation that could implicate his son, Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian energy company.
  • "I don't think Donald Trump has done any impeachable offence that's a high crime or misdemeanour.
  • The president's supporters don't believe there is any substance to the allegations against him.
  • They've tried to impeach Trump since before he was in office. It's not really the Democratic Party - it's just anti-Republican. If they want an official investigation, they should just go to the courts and do it."
  • If Trump treats his rallies like a rock concert, these are the devoted hardcore fans, buying merchandise as vendors walk past with badges and t-shirts. There's a cardboard cut out Trump people are posing for pictures with.
  • She also says only "high crimes and misdemeanours" are impeachable offences.
  • If Obama had that same conversation would any of this be coming up? The answer is 100% no. That's all it is. They're out to get him.
brookegoodman

Trump's Climate Agenda May Not Help Energy Firms as He Says | Time - 0 views

time.com/...ump-climate-change-oil-and-gas

crisis politics

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  • President Trump touted his deregulatory agenda on climate and energy in a speech in Pittsburgh Wednesday, describing his support as key to the industry
  • Many worry that public backlash over the industry’s role in causing climate change, as well as its reputation as an ardent opponent of environmental regulations, poses a serious, long-term threat to their business.
  • Bigger companies, like BP, are more likely to support limited climate regulation like methane rules than small ones because their deep pockets make it easier to meet regulatory costs. And European oil and gas firms are more likely to see a future beyond oil and gas than their American counterparts, in large part because of pressure in their home countries.
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  • That division came to a head earlier this year when the Trump Administration rolled back rules requiring oil and gas companies to halt methane emissions, the second-most common greenhouse gas.
  • API blasted out emails to reporters highlighting the role natural gas has played reducing emissions, praising the launch of a Senate climate group looking into potential bipartisan climate solutions, and saying that when it comes to climate change “we’re on it.”
  • A handful of oil majors, BP, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total, are supporting a coalition pushing a proposal for a carbon tax at the federal level that would distribute the revenue back to taxpayers.
  • “Companies should not be so greedy,” he said, calling addressing emissions from methane an “asset protection strategy.”
  • Denying climate change is no longer viable, but trade groups often end up supporting the policy views of their lowest common denominator.
  • energy systems around the world need to shift dramatically to keep temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C by the end of the century,
  • Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who are polling alongside former Vice President Joe Biden in a close race for the Democratic presidential nomination, have both said they would ban fracking as part of a suite of policies targeting the industry.
  • President Trump, who regularly claims the climate measures amount to a “war” on American energy.
  • But the science is also clear that simply not addressing the issue will bring much worse economic catastrophe, from submerged cities to mass migration fueled by extreme weather.
brookegoodman

Trump Says Turkey Will Make 5-Day Cease-Fire 'Permanent' | Time - 0 views

time.com/...key-permanent-cease-fire-syria

politics trump

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  • President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will lift sanctions on Turkey after the NATO ally agreed to permanently stop fighting Kurdish forces in Syria and he defended his decision to withdraw American troops, saying the U.S. should not be the world’s policeman.
  • Trump warned that if Turkey does not honor its pledge for a permanent cease-fire, he will not hesitate to reimpose sanctions.
  • Trump halted negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey, raised steel tariffs back up to 50% and imposed sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and Turkey’s defense and energy ministries.
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  • Trump earlier in October ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria to withdraw
  • The U.S. pullout was seen as an abandonment of Kurdish fighters, who have incurred thousands of casualties as they fought with U.S. forces against the Islamic State militants.
  • More than 176,000 people have been displaced by the Turkish offensive and about 500 IS fighters gained freedom during the conflict.
  • Under the new agreement, much of that territory would be handed over to U.S. rivals.
  • The biggest winners are Turkey and Russia. Turkey would get sole control over areas of the Syrian border captured in its invasion.
brookegoodman

What Bill Taylor's Testimony Means for Impeachment Inquiry | Time - 0 views

time.com/...-taylor-testimony-donald-trump

us trump politics

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  • Since he took office, President Donald Trump has frequently claimed a “deep state” is trying to sabotage his presidency, denouncing a supposed corrupt conspiracy in the U.S.
  • Articles of Impeachment against Trump may be drafted on the testimony of career bureaucrats, relying on routine skills built over decades of public service. It’s their credibility, expertise, and meticulous records that may prove the most damaging to a president who has long disparaged such discipline.
  • Taylor said he was told that Trump would withhold the aid until the country’s leaders publicly announced investigations into Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and into unsubstantiated allegations of Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in the 2016 election
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  • the White House had withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents
  • Where Sondland frequently said he couldn’t remember much of his work in Ukraine, Taylor recalled events with clarity.
  • By early afternoon, it was clear that Tuesday’s testimony was “turning out to be more important than some of us expected,”
brookegoodman

GOP Focus on Impeachment Process Highlights Bigger Problem | Time - 0 views

time.com/...epublicans-impeachment-problem

us trump politics

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  • A chunk of Congressional Republicans have publicly heeded President Donald Trump’s call to defend him as their Democratic colleagues in the House pursue an impeachment inquiry into his possible abuses of power
  • Freedom Caucus members were among those who raided the secure room in the U.S. Capitol where the depositions have been conducted, delaying one by five hours.
  • the White House had withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents.
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  • Democrats are “abandoning more than a century’s worth of precedent and tradition in impeachment proceedings and denying President Trump basic fairness and due process accorded every American.”
  • When Republicans barged into the secure room where the inquiry was being conducted Wednesday to decry the process, they not only violated House rules but delayed a deposition from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper by over five hours.
  • “Witnesses are now coming forward to testify under oath and providing devastating testimony about the corruption of this President and I think this was part of the effort to stop the process,
  • Rep. Mark Meadows, an ally of the President and leader of the Freedom Caucus that met with Trump before Wednesday’s slow-motion basement raid that Trump loved, told TIME. “If you focus on communication and not process you’re focusing on the wrong thing.”
  • Once all of the information is publicized, the GOP will be forced to come up with a new line of defense
  • Graham evaded the question and pivoted back to the argument that Democrats are selectively leaking from the depositions to undermine Trump’s poll numbers.
  • Part of the reason Republicans may continue to struggle is not only because of the facts that could emerge, but because of a lack of strategy at the White House.
  • McConnell and his leadership team are preaching unity in the face of Democrats’ incoming fire
  • Nine incumbent Republican Senators declined to become a co-sponsor of Graham’s measure
  • It’s not that those nine support impeaching and removing Trump, or alone are sufficient to band with Democrats. Instead, they represent a sense in the Senate that they should know if the President is abusing his power, regardless of his political affiliation. The pursuit of that fact, in the end, may be what keeps the process on track.
brookegoodman

For Impeachment Witnesses, Testifying Can Cost $15,000 or More - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...impeachment-lawyers.html

politics us trump

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  • a parade of State Department officials began trooping to Capitol Hill this month to testify in the impeachment inquiry imperiling President Trump
  • This time, instead of high-rolling players in Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, many of the witnesses are career government workers who helped shape or carry out policy toward Ukraine.
  • On civil-servant salaries, they have racked up bills of $15,000 or more for lawyers who can guide them through the morning-to-dusk sessions before congressional inquisitors.
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  • Even if a client pays in full, representing a single congressional witness is far less profitable than the corporate work that is the lifeblood of many Washington law firms.
  • “You do these cases because you believe in the client or you believe in the cause or you believe in the process, not because they are financially rewarding.”
  • So far, nearly a dozen witnesses have cooperated with the inquiry, most of whom are still in the government.
  • Witnesses still in government service could be risking their jobs by cooperating in defiance of a White House directive declaring the inquiry illegitimate.
  • Three days before Ms. Hill was to testify, two lawyers from the counsel’s office argued to him in a telephone conversation that the discussions she was privy to were protected by executive privilege.
  • Neither that whistle-blower nor a second one is paying them, but a charitable organization established to aid whistle-blowers has raised about $220,000 to cover their firm’s work.
brookegoodman

Conservatives Voice Support for Mulvaney - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...rvatives-support-mulvaney.html

politics us trump

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  • Politics|Conservatives Voice Support for Mulvaney
  • telling President Trump in a letter that the “D.C. swamp is attacking him” and urging the president to permanently appoint him to the job.
  • The letter was signed by dozens of conservatives
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  • Three days later, Mr. Mulvaney described Mr. Trump as still seeing himself as being “in the hospitality business,”
  • “He worked to craft the president’s budgets which called for cutting more wasteful spending than any president in history,” the letter said.
  • What the Accusation Is: President Trump is accused of breaking the law by pressuring the president of Ukraine to A second person, this one with “firsthand knowledge” of Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, came forward and is now protected as a whistle-blower.
  • The president said the impeachment battle would be “repeatedly referred to the whistle-blower as “crooked” and condemned the news media reporting on the complaint. At the beginning of October, Mr. Trump publicly called on China to examine Mr. Biden as well.
brookegoodman

Muslim Student Athlete Disqualified From Race for Wearing Hijab - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...Ohio-hijab-runner.html

us culture

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  • Noor Alexandria Abukaram, 16, was disqualified from a high school cross-country race in Ohio because she did not have permission to run in her hijab. Officials said the rule might change.
  • Noor Alexandria Abukaram, 16, was disqualified from a high school cross-country race in Ohio because she did not have permission to run in her hijab. Officials said the rule might change.
    • brookegoodman
      brookegoodman on 25 Oct 19
       
      relates to discrimination against religion which we have studied throughout history
  • she learned she wasn’t allowed to run in her head scarf without special permission.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Ms. Abukaram said that part of her had always worried that an official might give her trouble for her hijab during uniform inspection before a race, when athletes are sometimes told to change into clothes that correspond more closely to regulations.
  • “They don’t have to prepare anything special for me, I don’t have any disabilities, I am just running just like anybody else. When he said that, I didn’t think, ‘Oh, Coach, why didn’t you do this?’ I thought, ‘Why do we even have to do this in the first place?’”
  • He added that the association was also “looking at this specific uniform regulation to potentially modify it in the future, so that religious headwear does not require a waiver.”
  • “It is the same hijab that Ibtihaj Muhammad wore in the Olympics and won a bronze medal wearing,” Ms. Abukaram said, referring to a member of the United States fencing team who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
  • On Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a Democratic presidential candidate, expressed her support for Ms. Abukaram on Twitter and criticized “discriminatory dress codes” that exclude religious minorities.
  • “I’ve got your back, Noor,” Ms. Warren wrote. “Every kid should be able to feel safe and welcome at school — and Muslim students should never be denied participation in school activities.”
brookegoodman

Anita Hill says she's 'ready to hold Joe Biden accountable' for role in 1991 Supreme Co... - 0 views

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politics us

shared by brookegoodman on 25 Oct 19 - No Cached
  • New York City (CNN)Anita Hill said she's "ready to hold Joe Biden accountable" for his role in leading the confirmation hearing of now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom she publicly accused of sexual harassment nearly 30 years ago.
  • "Giving me clear information that you have made a change and that you are going to do something to make us all better off around gender discrimination."
  • Biden told ABC he believed Hill did not get a fair hearing and was not treated well, and said he took responsibility.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In his bid for president and through the lens of the #MeToo movement, Biden is under renewed scrutiny for the controversial episode from his lengthy Senate career.
  • Hill also addressed the allegation of sexual and physical assault against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and said officials "didn't go far enough" in handling the matter.
  • Hill called on the media to ask presidential candidates how they will respond to and address the #MeToo movement, and said she is not satisfied with "the way the media has treated this issue."
brookegoodman

White House urges all federal agencies to cancel Washington Post and New York Times sub... - 0 views

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trump us

shared by brookegoodman on 25 Oct 19 - No Cached
  • Washington (CNN)The White House is urging all federal agencies to cancel their subscriptions to The New York Times and the Washington Post.
  • "not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving for taxpayers -- hundreds of thousands of dollars."
  • "The New York Times, which is a fake newspaper -- we don't even want it in the White House anymore. We're going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post," Trump said
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • President John F. Kennedy canceled White House subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune over perceived bias.
  • The Washington Post declined to comment.
brookegoodman

Trump: Why Bill Clinton's impeachment playbook won't work for the President - CNNPolitics - 0 views

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politics us trump

shared by brookegoodman on 25 Oct 19 - No Cached
  • But, to succeed, this strategy would require Trump to abandon the most dominant traits of his unchained personality and political method
  • The idea that Trump, always his own most vehement advocate, would swallow his fury and retreat behind a team of lawyers and professional political spinners is impossible to imagine.
  • to praise Clinton -- the man Graham tried to oust from office as a House impeachment manager two decades ago.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Graham argued that Clinton defended himself but never stopped being President and that was the key to his survival and eventual acquittal in a Senate trial.
  • Clinton's approval rating as measured by Gallup stayed high for all of the Monica Lewinsky saga, peaking at 73% in December 1998, the month he was impeached, a level never approached at any time by Trump.
  • "Get over it," he said, in a comment that instantly became a centerpiece of the impeachment case against the President.
  • he needs to keep his supporters in a constant state of outrage that will drive them to the polls next year.
  • Trump also did appear to have success in using his unconventional methods to discredit Robert Mueller and what the President described as his investigating team of "angry Democrats."
  • it actually appeared to show a quid pro quo in which he asked for investigations into 2016 Democrats and Joe Biden in return for military aid.
  • The President's instinct is always to stoke controversy and outrage that acts not just as a distraction but whips up a storm that forces everyone else off balance as he stands unscathed in its eye.
  • CNN reported on Thursday that Republican lawmakers were taking the reins of the effort to counter the Democratic impeachment push amid frustration at the White House's haphazard approach.
  • Republicans hope to present the process as partisan and unwarranted and an outrageous attempt to overthrow the results of a democratic election.
  • Attorney General William Barr's investigation into the intelligence and origins of the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election is now a criminal probe.
  • Democrats want to build a case that Trump abuses his power so egregiously that he should be dismissed from office —
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