Sunday, September 11, 2016

9/11 after 15 years: Those who were there remember

15 years later, a solemn spot for reflection

Ask an American where he or she was when the Towers fell, and you’ll most likely get a reply with no hesitation. For people who were part of one of America’s darkest days, the answers follow somber reflection. Words are chosen carefully, and the anguish of 15 years ago comes through in quiet and sometimes cracking voices. Their stories are of survival, heroism, loss and pain that remain a decade and a half on.
FoxNews.com talked to several who were there, and others familiar with the evil men who plotted the attack and live on to this day. Here are their stories:
The Governor
Gov. George Pataki was in his second of three terms when the biggest test of his career came. Fifteen years later, Pataki, now 71, said 9/11 feels “like it was yesterday.” But it is the heroism he witnessed, and not the horror, that has stayed with him.
“I will always remember that bright clear morning, the friends that I lost and the people not running away from the towers, but rushing toward them to help,” Pataki recalled. “And I'll always remember the people standing in line to give blood, waiting hoping for the injured and wounded who would never come that day.”
The former governor, who sought the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, said 9/11 proved that America must stand strong against all those who would do her harm.
“Whether it's Al Qaeda, ISIS or any other radical Islamic terrorist group, we must remain committed to denying them safe haven both on land and online,” he said. “We must not allow them a base of operations to train, recruit and organize attacks against Americans at home or abroad. “
                *****

The Healers
Dr. Antonio Dajer, now 57 and director of New York-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital’s emergency department, recalls being in the restroom on the second-floor conference room windows of the hospital when every intern and resident looked out the window to see the first tower ignite.
“Respiratory stat to the emergency room!” came a voice over the intercom, as the charge nurse shouted that “an American Airlines plane hit the World Trade Center!”
“The first patient was so badly mutilated – it was unimaginable,” Dajer recalled. “The air was gray outside. Inside, patients had been moved upstairs or to the operating rooms. We were transferring out the burns, the head traumas, and the bad fractures to clear the decks for another hundred patients… But instead there was only a trickle. The street suddenly fell quiet.”
A half hour later, Dajer walked to City Hall Park, three blocks away.
“The smoke funneling up Broadway was black and endless,” he continued. “Discarded shoes were everywhere. A crust of papers and thick gray dust blanketed the park, the streets.”
He remembers a young man dying, his lungs slowly and inexorably giving out and a trembling resident having to tell the patient’s wife her husband is dead.
“She dropped to the ground,” Dajer observed. “And when the resident tried to help her up, she punched him with brutal force.”
John Episcopo, a 38-year-old New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medical Services Technician, went to breakfast that morning with two co-workers – Keith Fairben and Mario Santoro. Both would die on the fateful morning, killed by the rubble of a falling building as they tended the wounded.
Episcopo wasn’t scheduled to work, but had subbed for a co-worker and came close to losing his own life by the World Trade Center.
“Someone yelled, ‘Run for your life!’ and I looked up and it was gray, there was this static sound and we all just ran in different directions,” he said. “I was thrown about 30 feet, landed in a walkway and just curled up and prayed.”
With a broken wrist and cuts and bruises all over his body, Episcopo dragged himself back the hospital where he continued the grim and grueling work of treating broken strangers.
“We continued to work day and night in the days following,” Episcopo said. “All the while, mourning the loss of our colleagues.”
Dr. JoAnn Difede, director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, had just taken her son to his second day of pre-school when the first plane hit the North Tower. Her beeper immediately started going off – and didn’t stop. To this day, Difede is haunted by the faces of young victims and their families.
“I remember walking through the emergency room and it was completely empty,” she recalled. “There was medical staff all geared up waiting to receive survivors. And there just weren’t any.”
Many were being treated at makeshift hospitals nearer the scene, but in the coming hours and days, the emergency room would swell with patients, and their loved ones.
A few days later, Difede brought in renowned yoga expert Beryl Bender-Burch to teach breathing exercises to the many tired and terrified family members jamming the waiting rooms.
“They needed a respite,” she said. “But there was no changing the horror.”
                    *****

The Fire Commissioner
As head of the storied FDNY, Thomas Von Essen led a department through what would be both its finest and its darkest hour. Now 71, Von Essen had been appointed five years earlier by Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“I think about it, unwillingly, every day. It just pops into my head,” Von Essen said. “The activity of that day was so incomprehensible that you just go through it doing the best you can, trying to make sense out of it.”
One of the most haunting images for the Commissioner was that morning, watching Father Mychal Judge – the FDNY chaplain – standing in the lobby of the North Tower. Judge was one of 343 FDNY members to die that day.
“I was watching his lips moving and I guess he was praying and he watched the firefighters run up the stairs, really not knowing what they would find up there,” he said. “We say that he was the first person from the fire department to die that day. That will always be the folklore, him being the first one in heaven welcoming all the heroes that had fallen that day.”
In a 2002 memoir entitled “Strong Heart: Life and Death in the Fire Department of New York,” Von Essen would chronicle 9/11, as well as many other dark and dangerous days that preceded it. He kept no mementos from 9/11, but regularly visits the Ground Zero memorial site.
“It’s always painful,” he added. “But the memorial is spectacular – a national remembrance of a horrific event and it is well done and appreciated.”
                    *****

The Police Commissioner
Bernard Kerik had been running the NYPD for just over a year when the World Trade Center was attacked. By the end of the first exhausting day, his department would have lost 23 cops.
He watched from the street as workers trapped on the upper floors of the towers joined hands and jumped to their deaths. The images from that day, and the loss, pain and hard work that would follow has never left him.
“Those memories will remain with us until the day we die,” Kerik said. “I watched innocent civilians jump – one, two, and three at a time. With each generation after the attacks, our citizens become less vigilant. It is imperative every American knows what happened that day and realizes the overall threat against us.”
That evening, Kerik met with the families of police officers and firefighters who were missing. He spoke to John Vigiano, a retired firefighter whose sons were, at that point, unaccounted for.
“His courage and strength was an inspiration for not only me, but everyone in that room,” he recalled.
It would later be learned that John Vigiano Jr. a New York City firefighter, and his younger brother, Joe, an NYPD detective, both perished in the World Trade Center.
Kerik would later serve as interim interior minister in Iraq under President George W. Bush, who nominated him to be the second Secretary of Homeland Security in late 2004. The nomination was rescinded after reports emerged that Kerik hired illegal immigrants in his house. Kerik would later serve time in a federal prison for charges that included tax fraud, and was released in May, 2013.
In 2014 Kerik published the book “From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate.” He has since become an advocate of criminal justice reform and the need to avoid “over-criminalization” in the U.S prison system, as well as advocating for new strategies to “defeat radical Islamic terrorism.”
“The events of 9/11 taught me never to take life for granted,” he said. “That there is an enemy that we will be fighting for decades and that real leadership is the key to our success and survival.”
                    *****

The Major General
On Sept. 11, 2001, Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold was Commander of 1^st Air Force and of the Continental U.S North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). During and after the attacks, it was the Vietnam veteran’s responsibility to organize, equip and command hundreds of fighter, tanker and AWACS aircraft to circumvent potential attacks.
“My memories of that morning remain well ingrained in my consciousness not only for the tragic events, loss of life and our Air Force response, but for the emotions my team of airmen and I felt as we helplessly tried to thwart additional attacks,” said Arnold, now 73.
According to Arnold, just as the attack on Pearl Harbor remained instilled in the minds of the “Greatest Generation,” which was inspired to fight and win World War II, “we need to unceasingly to remember the 9/11 attack.”
“Our enemy this time, Islamic extremist or Jihadist – the enemy has a name – is of a different sort as we all know and shouldn't forget,” he said. “They rely on terror and the mindlessly ruthless and indiscriminant killing of all people who they consider ‘infidels’ - non-Muslims and Muslims of a different sect equally.”
Prior to his retirement in 2002, Arnold was also the commander of all military aircraft for Operation Noble Eagle – the U.S. military response to Sept. 11. These days, he is a consultant in the defense industry and President of the Arnold Group, aiding and supporting numerous government agencies and defense industry leaders in various areas from aircraft sales and strategic planning to Army and Air Force Missile systems and corrosion protection programs.
“I just hope we never forget those who died on that fateful day and continue to have the resolve to defeat those who hate us and our way of life,” he said.
                    *****

The Survivors
It started as an ordinary Manhattan morning for businessman Edward Fine, now 59, who worked at Intercapital Planning, but when the towers were hit he was thrust into the international spotlight. He became known across the world as “The Dustman,” after a photo of him covered head-to-toe in dust walking through the debris circulated around the world, and appeared on the cover of Fortune magazine a few days later.
“I don’t have any particular feelings with regard to that photo, but it does serve as a constant reminder to me of that day… as if the day’s events were not enough of a reminder in and of themselves,” he said.
Fine noted that his memories of that day remain raw and real, but amid the chaos, he came across several people he now credits with saving his life.
“The woman who gave me the wet paper towel as we descended the stairs and which I later used to breathe through; the firefighters who were ascending the stairs as we were descending; the Catholic priest who put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for us as we lay on the street being covered by dust and debris,” he said. “Then there was the bus driver who took us uptown… those people all come to my mind.”
Today, Fine continues to work as a business consultant and views his mission in life to help narrow the income gap between the rich and poor. He and his son are developing the website www.Vc4all.com as “an opportunity for all Americans to invest in companies that up to now have usually been reserved for the ultra-wealthy and well-connected investors.”
“Since 9/11, I have watched Americans miss out on some of the best investment opportunities because they didn’t have enough money,” he said. “It has been my mission to help America since this tragedy, and I believe I have found the best way.”
Sept. 11 marked Rebecca Lazinger’s one-year anniversary at Morgan Stanley. Now 38, she remembers rushing excitedly through the revolving doors to be at her office on the 74^th floor of World Trade 2 before 9 a.m.
“I didn’t make it up to my office,” she recalled. “There was that impact moment and it was the loudest thing I had ever heard in my life. And everything went silent, followed by chaos and confusion.”
Lazinger remembers a man to her right screaming in the moments before he was killed by falling debris.
“I still had a coffee in my hand,” she said. “Then I ran in the opposite direction, haphazardly through the courtyard. I wasn’t thinking. I just started running. I collapsed on the floor and people started running to get out of the building. Somebody pulled me off the floor and dragged me out the door. That was the same time that the second plane hit. Then it became running for your life.”
Lazinger would continue to work for Morgan Stanley for a couple of years following the tragedy, shuffling around to different offices attempting to get the company’s database back in order.
“The temporary office we had was right across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and there were funerals every day for the longest time,” she said. “That music – the bagpipes. Still when I hear bagpipes, it just sends me into a weird place. Some particular smells and sights and sounds are alive. A garbage truck. The subway. It’s a live memory. I still have nightmares three times a week.”
Lazinger kept the thin, patterned Chinese slippers she got from a nearby deli after fleeing that morning. Last year, she gave them to her father.
“My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. He lived as the son of survivors,” she explained. “He is the common thread.”
New Jersey native Brian Branco was in his mid-thirties and owned his own small computer business on the 78^th floor of the south tower on Sept. 11.
“I felt a little vibration, and thought something was happening above us,” he recalled. “The plan was to go downstairs, see what was going on, and go back up. That was the plan I had with another guy, Stephen. We left, and he said he forgot something in his office... He didn’t make it.”
Branco doesn’t remember leaving the building – but the vision of the “war zone” outside rings clear.
“I was a block away, walking up Church Street and to the left, there was a movie theater. As soon as I turned, I felt the hit,” he continued. “I felt pressure from it; I felt heat from it. The federal building I was by rippled like in a movie.”
Branco has kept several tokens from that ominous day – his building identification, ferry pass and a bank receipt –and has since gotten two 9/11 tattoos in honor of his friends who died. He still owns a small computer business, BNC Consulting, and does volunteer work – along with his wife and then eight-year-old daughter – at the museum.
“One thing I have learned is, don’t sweat the small stuff,” Branco said. “Enjoy every day because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Appreciate your loved ones.”
                    *****

The Masterminds
He was once one of Usama bin Laden’s top deputies and is believed to have been the key mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Years earlier, the U.S.-educated, plane-crazed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 52, was a wanted man by U.S intelligence officials due to outspoken efforts to plot attacks against Americans.
He was finally captured in March, 2003 in Pakistan – outed by an informant – and transferred to Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, where he has been held ever since on charges including murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, conspiracy and intentionally causing serious bodily injury. In 2007, he confessed to being responsible for the operation, in addition to 29 others including the 1993 World Trade Center car bombing.
Mohammed remains at Gitmo awaiting trial for war crimes.
One of several players sometimes referred to as the “20^th hijacker,” Yemen-born Ramzi Bin al-Shibh is alleged to have wired money and passed pertinent information between Al Qaeda and the hijackers. The now 44-year-old was slated to take part in the Sept. 11 operation, but was denied a U.S. entry visa. Shibh was captured on Sept. 11, 2002, and was held at a CIA “black site” in Morocco before being moved to Gitmo in 2006, where he remains. His trial has been delayed multiple times, and as of 2014 military psychiatrists were said to be determining if he was fit to take the stand.
Anna Nelson, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, declined to comment on individuals, but told FoxNews.com that the ICRC visits the detainees on regular basis – four routine visits annually, each lasting two to three weeks, plus ad-hoc visits as necessary.
“During the visits, we are able to meet with the detainees on an individual basis and in-private. Each individual is free to agree or decline to meet with us,” Nelson said. “We facilitate contact between the detainees and their relatives through written messages as well as phone calls and Skype-like video calls. Communications between the detainees and their relatives are monitored and censored by authorities. Our role is strictly to facilitate the contact.”
And while the Gitmo detention facility has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of defense lawyers, human rights groups and much of the mainstream media, retired Army Colonel Gordon Cucullu argues that the likes of Mohammed and Shibh – who are held at the ever secretive Camp 7 – are treated not only humanely but with an almost groveling “understanding of their culture.”
“’Infidel’ Americans were not allowed to touch the Koran, for example. By giving in to this we simply validated the concept that we are lesser people and not good enough to meet their standards,” he told FoxNews.com. “We went to extremes to furnish them halal food. Detainee meals were prepared with far more expensive and nutritious ingredients than the food provided to the Americans stationed at Gitmo and their meals varied more than the U.S menus.”
Cucullu also observed that at the outset, there were probably detainees transported there who didn’t need to be there and were sufficiently weeded out – but those remaining like Mohammed and Shibh – are all hardcore, committed terrorists.
“They will not change,” he said.
Also known as the “20^th Hijacker,” French-born Zacarias Moussaoui, 48, is the only 9/11 suspected terrorist to have been tried in the United States. He took flying lessons at the same Oklahoma school hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi attended, but his odd behavior prompted his flight instructor to notify the FBI. Moussaoui was arrested a month before the 9/11 attacks for an immigration violation, and months later, a slew of other charges including conspiracy to commit terrorism and to use weapons of mass destructions were added.
Having pled guilty, Moussaoui is currently serving six life sentences without parole at the Federal ADX Supermax Prison in Florence, Colo. The facility is home to the male inmates characterized as the most dangerous and in need of the tightest security. Moussaoui, along with other high-risk inmates, is said to be locked in his cell for 23 hours a day – one hour spared for recreational activity in an outdoor enclosure while flanked by armed guards and donning handcuffs, stomach chains and leg irons.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons was not able to comment on Moussaoui’s current condition, citing privacy laws.
However, each 7-by-12 foot concrete cell has an immovable desk, stool, toilet and shower and walls are in place to stop prisoners from even seeing other prisoners. Even contact with security personnel is severely limited, with meals delivered through small cavities in the door.
Inside Moussaoui’s cement box, just a slither of the sky can be seen from below.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Former Fox Host Greta Van Susteren Is Regretful She Didn't Believe Gretchen Carlson's Sexual Harassment Allegations

Greta Van Susteren

Gretchen Carlson

Greta Van Susteren is regretful that she didn't believe Gretchen Carlson's claim of sexual harassment against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.

Following her departure from the network on Tuesday, the longtime On the Record host no longer defends Ailes after he quit the network July 21 amid Carlson's sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the former CEO.

"I read Geraldo's FB post in which he said he regretted not believing Gretchen Carlson's claim of sexual harassment. We all regret it – I made my regret self evident in my GretaWire posting about 3 weeks ago which ended with this: 'Gretchen, you go girl.' That said it all," Susteren, 62, penned in a Facebook post Friday.

"It is indeed true, when I read the complaint written by lawyers – I never spoke to Gretchen as she was long gone from Fox – I found it inconsistent with what was my experience and information at the Fox News Channel, admittedly working 200 miles from the 'scene of the crimes.' It was hidden from all of us," the post continued.

Though Susteren and Geraldo Rivera initially defended the Fox head and were skeptical of Carlson's claims – Rivera posted a lengthy apologetic note to Facebook – the two news personalities have each publicly shared their remorse for not believing her.

"But I have regrets beyond Geraldo's and beyond not believing a civil complaint written by lawyers," the 14-year Fox employee continued in her public post. "I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him. This included his seniors, the CFO's of both Fox News Channel and 21CF (and its predecessor NewsCorp), the Board of Directors and what I assume this public corporation had, outside auditors. Checks written that were suspicious should have been spotted."

In early July, Susteren shared her support and defense of Ailes and cited Carlson's claims as those of a bitter employee.

"Of course, the first thing that occurred to me is that, unfortunately, we have a disgruntled employee, a colleague," she told PEOPLE.

"People come to me because I've been there so long," Susteren saif. "That's why this doesn't have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent."

On Tuesday, PEOPLE confirmed that former Fox News host Carlson reached a settlement with the network and is expected to receive $20 million.

Why Greta Van Susteren Quit Fox News

Fox News has faced some major changes in recent months, and the latest is the surprise departure of longtime host Greta Van Susteren. She anchored On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren for fourteen years and became one of the most recognizable names on the network. Viewers have gotten used to her coverage of current affairs, but it turns out that she has a pretty solid reason for choosing to leave Fox and On the Record. Van Susteren had this to say about her decision to move on in her career:

Yes, I have left the Fox News Channel. On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait.

It's hard to blame Greta Van Susteren for leaving a job if she no longer felt at home in the environment. She's a high-profile media personality who shouldn't have trouble finding a new outlet for her career. If she didn't want to remain at Fox News and doesn't necessarily need her job at Fox News, there was no reason for her to stick around in an unhappy situation. The announcement that she'd be leaving did feel somewhat abrupt, but it sounds like she was in a time crunch to make the big call.

Greta Van Susteren may have had extra motivation to leave Fox News thanks to recent events involving CEO Roger Ailes. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes that was distinctly ugly and drew lines in the sand at Fox News. Van Susteren was one of the Fox News personalities who sided with Ailes. Rumor had it that she would consider leaving the network if Ailes got the boot. Ailes ultimately resigned, so Fox News never had to deal with the extra controversy of firing him. Still, it may have been a contributing factor to Van Susteren leaving. If her unrest has been brewing for years, the ousting of Ailes coinciding with the expiration of her contract could have been enough to drive her away from the network.

The announcement from Greta Van Susteren came via Facebook post, and she shared her decision without hinting at any deep bitterness. She was gracious about her staff, her crew, and her viewers. The only clue that she harbored any ill will toward Fox News was her comment that the network no longer felt like her home. Van Susteren didn't burn any bridges with inflammatory remarks, but she doesn't seem like she regrets her decision.

Greta Van Susteren may be gone from the airwaves for a while before she finds a new home, so be sure to check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you will be able to catch on the small screen in the near future.

Mike Kaine Cartoons

Hillary finally talked with the press this week. And after more than 270 days most of the questions were really lame

Clinton holds first press conference in 8 months

For more than nine months, Hillary Clinton kept the press corps on a starvation diet of campaign releases, second-hand twitter remarks, surrogates, televised commercials and public speeches. This week she broke the media’s prolonged information fast by twice offering reporters a few morsels.
The response was something less than a feeding frenzy.
In the first session, which took place on Monday in the press section of Clinton’s new campaign plane, journalists used their unexpected access to ask how the candidate had enjoyed her Labor Day weekend (she had, very much), and wondered if she had a Labor Day message to the voters. “Oh, I do,” she responded. “If you want more happy Labor Days, you’ll know who to vote for.”
The following day, Clinton held a more formal press opportunity at the White Plains airport. This time she devoted about ten minutes to Q and A. The Q’s were more revealing than the A’s.
Two of the reporters asked variations of the question: Are you held to a double standard by the media because you are a woman? Since this is a Clinton talking point, the candidate had no trouble answering in the affirmative.
Another reporter, citing increasingly tight poll numbers, asked why on earth Clinton wasn’t “wasn’t running away” with the election? Secretary Clinton responded that she feels she is in a strong position and encouraged her supporters to turn out on Election Day.
Clinton was then asked about the GOP charge that she and Obama and Clinton gave birth to ISIS by prematurely pulling out of Iraq (a Trumpian talking-point). The candidate countered by insisting that ISIS is endorsing Trump (a Clintonian talking point). There was no follow-up.
Among the softballs, one serious question was thrown: Is it prudent for Clinton to declare, as she recently has, that, if elected, she will not send ground forces to Iraq? And did such a statement ignore the fact that there are already US forces fighting in Iraq and Syria? The candidate forthrightly repeated that she would fight ISIS without sending ground troops but dodged the second part of the question. Again, no one asked for clarification.
Clinton repaid the kindness of her interviewers with good-natured banter. She expressed admiration for NBC’s Andrea Mitchell (“my kind of woman”) and bantered with a male reporter who was wearing an old hat for the first time. “Shopping in your closet?” she said. “I do a lot of that, too.”
Sure she does.
Still, it is good that Secretary Clinton has begun talking to reporters, especially since Donald Trump seems less and less inclined to do so. Unlike her opponent, Clinton is fully capable of speaking in complete sentences and giving coherent answers to easy questions. Hopefully, as the campaign progresses, we’ll get a chance to see how she does with the hard ones.

Kaine’s wife steps up Clinton campaign role amid poll problems

Aug. 1, 2016: Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine listens as his wife Anne Holton speaks at a campaign office in Richmond, Va.

As Hillary Clinton's numbers take a hit in the polls, the Democratic ticket is deploying a potentially potent surrogate to the campaign trail: Anne Holton.
The wife of Clinton running mate Tim Kaine -- and daughter of a former Republican governor in the swing state of Virginia -- increasingly is stepping out on her own to stump for the Democratic presidential nominee.
She's no stranger to politics. Holton has an accomplished legal and political resume, as a former lawyer and judge, and ex-Virginia education secretary – a role she resigned from in July to focus on the campaign. In that respect, she is in a unique position to push Clinton’s education platform. She also could be used to help shore up support among women voters who may be having second thoughts about Clinton.
“Because Hillary Clinton’s favorability and trust numbers are so low – she needs help … and it’s the kind of help Bill Clinton is unable to provide,” said Matthew Dallek, an associate professor of political science at George Washington University.
The Democratic presidential nominee's popularity hit a new low among registered voters in a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll. In it, 41 percent of Americans said they have a positive view of Clinton while 56 percent have a negative view. Her popularity among women sank to 45-52 percent, practically a reversal from a month prior.
Though former President Clinton can speak to his wife’s accomplishments, it’s arguably tougher for him to present her as a relatable figure to women voters who may be on the fence.
Enter Holton.
On the stump, Holton is just as comfortable highlighting Clinton’s role as a new grandmother, sometimes receiving “awwws” from audience members, as she is focusing on the particulars of the candidate's education platform.
She recently met with students, supporters and educators at four different stops in New Hampshire. Then it was on to Roanoke, Va., Holton’s hometown, last Friday. She toured Virginia Western Community College and pushed Clinton proposals to make college tuition free for some students. She also stopped by a local campaign office for a volunteer appreciation event and made additional stops in the state on Monday, before hitting up a fundraiser with her husband in Norfolk on Friday.
On a recent stop at a Richmond campaign office, Holton gave volunteers a pep talk, The Associated Press reported.
“This has been a month — a whirlwind,” Holton said. “Tim told me on the phone this morning that ... he has been in 24 states in 30 days,” she said. “I have not. But I’ve had some fun on the trail, too. ... It is crazy and wild. Our lives have been turned topsy-turvy. But for such a great cause. And we’re thrilled to be part of it.”
Dallek said it is "a bit unusual" for the spouse of a vice presidential nominee to play such a prominent role, but said Holton "is a political factor and public expert in her own right.”
“She has a really interesting background and comes from a very political family,” Dallek said.
Holton, a popular former first lady of Virginia when Kaine was governor, also is the daughter of A. Linwood Holton, Jr., a moderate Republican who in 1970 became the first GOP governor to be elected in the state in nearly a century.
Holton’s father worked to integrate the schools in response to court-ordered desegregation, even sending a young Anne Holton to attend a public school in Richmond with a black student majority.
Though it doesn’t seem too radical today, at the time, it was groundbreaking.
“It was my first real experience of being with people who came from a much different background than mine,” she recently said during a visit to Pittsburgh. “I did learn some things about differences, but I learned a lot more about similarities.”
The Clinton campaign, which signs off on Holton's public appearances, declined an interview request from FoxNews.com.
On the Republican side, vice presidential nominee Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, hasn’t been as visible as Holton but is starting to show up more on the trail.
Two weeks ago, Karen Pence, who also has an accomplished background in education, accompanied her husband on a swing through Georgia.

Karen Pence

Trump reaches out to faith voters, as candidates spar on security

Donald Trump: We will cherish, defend our Christian heritage

Donald Trump paused from another day of sparring with Hillary Clinton over national security issues Friday to reach out to faith voters, telling an audience at the Values Voters Summit that he will defend Christian values like “you’ve never seen before.”
Speaking at the gathering of conservative Christians in Washington, the Republican nominee said that political leaders have abandoned Christians, while the media mocks Christianity.
“Your values of love, charity and faith built this nation,” he told the audience. “How can it be that our media treats people of faith so poorly? One of the reasons is that our politicians have abandoned you to a large extent, and Hillary Clinton? You can forget about her.”
He promised that a Trump administration would buck that.
“A Trump administration, our Christian heritage will be cherished, protected, defended like you’ve never seen before,” he said. “Believe me.”
He also reiterated his call to repeal the so-called Johnson amendment, which prevents tax-exempt groups, such as Christian organizations and churches, from endorsing political candidates. Striking a unifying tone, Trump promised to unite America if he were elected to the White House in November.
“Imagine what our country could achieve if we worked together as one people, under one God, saluting one flag,” he said.
Trump’s remarks come after a week of back-and-forth between the campaigns on foreign policy, with just 60 days to go until the election.
Clinton called for new sanctions Friday on North Korea after it conducted its fifth nuclear test, something she called “a direct threat to the United States.” Trump meanwhile cast blame on Clinton for the North Korean situation.
“Clinton’s failed policies allowed threats to us and our allies to thrive around the world, including emboldening Iran and North Korea to accelerate their development of nuclear capabilities with impunity,” he said in a statement late Friday.
When pushed on what he would do in response to aggression from the North Koreans, the campaign said it would not reveal its plan to America’s enemies. Trump has been criticized for not outlining his plans for dealing with foreign policy challenges, especially in regard to ISIS.
"He's not going to reveal all of his plans, and he's made that very clear. And maybe someone can ask him in a debate," campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CBS "This Morning." `
Trump also came under fire for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin in an NBC town hall Wednesday this week, and for granting an interview to Russian government-backed Russia Today on Thursday.
Clinton took aim at Trump in a short press conference Friday after meeting with national security advisers. When asked about Trump’s relationship with Putin, Clinton said it was proof that Trump was not running a serious campaign.
“It’s not a serious presidential campaign, and it is beyond one’s imagination to have a candidate for president praising a Russian autocrat like Vladimir Putin and throwing his lot in with him,” she said.
Clinton’s campaign has been using her experience and sober outlook as a key part of the campaign, and announced Friday that the number of retired generals and admirals endorsing her has grown to 110. Trump, meanwhile, has said he has the endorsement of 88 retired generals and admirals.
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, received his first intelligence briefing on Friday. While he did not offer specifics on what he was told, he said he and Trump would be “ready on day one.”

Krauthammer: Clinton has set the debate bar so low for Trump

'BASKET OF DEPLORABLES': Clinton says half of Trump's voters are 'racist, sexist, homophobic' at fundraiser

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton caused an uproar late Friday after telling a fundraiser audience that half of Republican nominee Donald Trump's supporters could be described as part of a "basket of deplorables."
The former secretary of state, who described her own remarks as "grossly generalistic", said Trump had bolstered people who are "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it." She did add that Trump's other supporters are frustrated by hard times and merit sympathy.
"They are just desparate for change," Clinton said. "They don't buy everything [Trump] says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different.
Clinton was speaking at an LGBT fundraiser in New York City, where she encouraged supporters to "stage an intervention" if they have friends considering voting for the Republican nominee.
"That may be one conversion therapy I'd endorse," said Clinton, referring to a type of counseling designed to urge gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender children to change their sexual orientation. The Democratic nominee later clarified that she wants to end the practice.
Singer Barbra Streisand, who performed at the fundraiser, altered the lyrics of the Stephen Sondheim song "Send In The Clowns" to mock Trump, referring to the real estate mogul as a "sad, vulgar clown."
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway responded to Clinton's remarks on Twitter late Friday.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement that Clinton had "revealed her true contempt for everyday Americans" and called the remarks an "inexcusable mistake."
Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill defended the candidate in tweets of his own.
"Obviously not everyone supporting Trump is part of the alt-right, but alt-right leaders are with Trump," Merrill added. "And their supporters appear to make up half his crowd when you observe the tone of his events.
The fundraiser capped a day during which Trump again attacked Clinton's credibility. He said Clinton was being "protected" during the Justice Department's investigation into her use of a private email server while secretary of state.
"She could walk right into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart, and she wouldn't be prosecuted," Trump said at a rally in Pensacola, Fla.
Trump also faced criticism from within his own party for refusing to outline his plans for combating foreign policy challenges, including threats posed by ISIS. Trump said this week that he does indeed have a plan, but would convene military leaders in his first 30 days in office to craft another plan.
Trump has also faced criticism for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin during a high-profile national security forum earlier in the week, and appearing on a Russian-backed television network Thursday evening.
On Friday, Clinton said she was "disappointed" by Trump's decision to appear on RT America, saying that "every day that goes by this just becomes more and more of a reality television show. It's not a serious presidential campaign."
With several prominent Republican national security officials already concerned about Trump's national security acumen, Clinton has tried to cast herself as the better potential commander in chief. She has aggressively promoted her growing list of military endorsements from both parties.
On Friday, her campaign said the number of retired generals and admirals endorsing Clinton for president has grown to 110. Trump quickly countered by saying his list had ballooned to 120 former U.S. generals and admirals earlier in the week.
Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, received his first intelligence briefing Friday. The vice presidential nominee declined to offer any specifics since the information was classified.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

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Saturday, September 10, 2016