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Saudis’ Story Is ‘Utter Bull—- ’

Editor’s Reaction to ‘Fable’ on Khashoggi Death

On Caravan, Trump Makes ‘Important Point’ on Aid

Cuban Journalist Claiming Torture Granted Asylum

San Diego Paper Touts Area’s Diversity

Big Gap Between GOP, Democrats on Race Issues

A Proposal for the Powhatan Tribe on Warren

At Newseum, ‘Journoladies’ Honor a Forebear

Reporter Relates to Paper’s Black Shoeshine Man

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Editor’s Reaction to ‘Fable’ on Khashoggi Death

The Washington Post editor who worked with Jamal Khashoggi is not buying the story from Saudi officials who say the columnist died during an altercation at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul,” William Cummings reported Sunday for USA Today.

Karen Attiah (courtesy)

” ‘I still believe, and the Post as an institution still believes, that this is not an explanation. This is an attempt at a cover-up,’ Karen Attiah, the global opinions editor at the Post, told George Stephanopoulos Sunday on ABC’s ‘This Week.’

“The Saudi government claimed in a statement on Friday that Khashoggi went to the consulate because he was interested in returning to Saudi Arabia. The statement said that the ‘discussion’ led to a quarrel and that Khashoggi died in an ensuing ‘brawl.’

“Attiah said it was ‘absolutely untrue’ that Khashoggi wanted to return to Saudi Arabia. She also rejected the notion that Khashoggi, whom she described as ‘kind and calm and gentle,’ would have been involved in a brawl.

” ‘If anything, if we’re going to give any sort of credence to this, he walked into an ambush,’ she said.

“The Washington Post Editorial Board on Saturday wrote that ‘the new account offered by the regime of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is utterly devoid of credibility.’ The editorial said the evidence was clear that the prince was ‘the instigator of a premeditated, cold-blooded and brutal murder, followed by the dismemberment of Mr. Khashoggi’s body.’

“The Post’s editorial board also criticized President Donald Trump for appearing to accept the Saudi explanation as credible. The editorial said Trump’s reaction ‘only underlines his shameful intent to assist in the attempt of the regime — and, in particular, the crown prince — to escape meaningful accountability.’

“The Post called for investigations in Khashoggi’s death by the United Nations and Congress, ‘including of whether the Trump administration is conspiring with Saudi officials to cover up the murder of a distinguished journalist.’

“Later Saturday, Trump told the Post that ‘obviously there’s been deception and there’s been lies’ from the Saudis. ‘Their stories are all over the place.’

“But the president also defended Mohammed bin Salman as a positive political figure in Saudi Arabia and said he had seen evidence implicating, or exonerating the prince. Trump said it was possible things ‘went awry’ in the consulate and that the prince only learned what happened later. . . .”

Attiah has worked as a freelance reporter for the Associated Press, Huffington Post, Sahara Reporters and several other news outlets. Born in Desoto, Texas, to a Nigerian-Ghanaian mother and Ghanaian father, she has a master’s degree in international relations from Columbia University.

She has worked tirelessly to keep Khashoggi’s case before the public, saying she considers it personal as well as professional. Attiah also appeared Sunday on CNN’s media show “Reliable Sources.”

On Caravan, Trump Makes ‘Important Point’ on Aid

Last week, a group of migrants set out from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to make the 1,000-plus-mile trip to the U.S. border in hopes of asylum,” the Dallas Morning News editorialized on Friday. “At this writing, the number of people in that group has grown to 4,000, who have reached the Guatemalan border with plans to traverse north through Mexico and on to Texas and other border points.

President Donald Trump has dealt with the crisis the way he so often does, taking to Twitter to lash out with all of the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. He has warned Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala that he’ll cut off their financial aid if they don’t stop their people from attempting to make it to the United States.

“What disappoints us is the president’s attempt to make people fleeing those countries out to be perpetrators, hoping to storm the United States, instead of victims, fleeing their home country for the chance at a better life.

“But while Trump might lack empathy for those suffering, he does make an important point about the use of U.S. aid money to governments that appear increasingly incapable of protecting their own citizens inside their own borders.

“Had Trump addressed the issue more diplomatically, he would be more likely to build support for the idea that the way the U.S. administers aid to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras should be on the table for reconsideration.

“Drug trafficking, human trafficking, gang violence and corruption have created a climate where people feel safer making the dangerous journey to the U.S. border instead of remaining at home — even as hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance pour in each year. . . .”

Serafín Morán Santiago

Cuban Journalist Claiming Torture Granted Asylum

After an almost four-hour hearing, a judge in the state of Texas, U.S., granted asylum to Cuban journalist Serafín Morán Santiago, who had been detained since last April, according to the freedom of the press organization Fundamedios USA,” Silvia Higuera reported Oct. 16 for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

“According to a press release signed by that organization and by Reporters Without Borders (RSF, for its initials in French) – two of the entities that have supported Morán since his detention – the asylum was granted on the grounds that Morán ‘was the subject of torture and persecution for his work as an independent journalist in Cuba who criticized his government.’

“Although the entities said they were ‘elated’ by the judge’s decision on Oct. 11, they said the journalist ‘should never have been detained in the first place’ by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). . . .”

Higuera also wrote, “As explained by the journalist, in Cuba he was the victim of aggression, harassment, multiple detentions, abduction and torture. In June 2016, he was allegedly abducted and beaten by Cuban security officials, according to RSF. In September 2017, he was allegedly arrested and his equipment confiscated after interviewing an opposition leader, RSF added.

“As Fundamedios USA explained at the time, Morán had also ‘successfully’ passed the credible fear test that is carried out in the U.S. to grant asylum. . . .”

In their news release, Fundamedios and Reporters Without Borders said,  “Upon his release, Moran plans to bring his family to the United States and hopes to work with the Hispanic press and pursue human rights activism focusing on the safety of journalists in Cuba. . . .”

One part of the San Diego Union-Tribune’s project declares, “These 60 people represent the foreign-born residents of San Diego County. To hear their stories, click on the photos.” (Credit: San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego Paper Touts Area’s Diversity

A five-part series by the San Diego Union-Tribune on immigration in San Diego County went on display Friday at the New Americans Museum in the California county, to be on view through Feb. 3.

San Diego County is home to 799,357 foreign-born residents, according to the most recent estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau,” John Wilkens, Kate Morrissey and Luis Cruz wrote when the series began Sept. 16. “That’s 24.1 percent of the region’s total population, higher than the national average, which is 14 percent. The immigrant population here has gone up 8.5 percent since 2011.

“They are restaurant owners and doctors, university professors and musicians, writers and farmers, beauticians and lawyers, engineers and cashiers, architects and nurses — almost every kind of pursuit imaginable.

“And some that seem unlikely, even to the people doing the pursuing. . . .”

One part of the project declares, “These 60 people represent the foreign-born residents of San Diego County. To hear their stories, click on the photos.”

Big Gap Between GOP, Democrats on Race Issues

With less than four weeks until the midterm elections, Republican and Democratic voters differ widely in views of the seriousness of numerous problems facing the United States, including the fairness of the criminal justice system, climate change, economic inequality and illegal immigration,” according to the Pew Research Center.

Pew’s Oct. 15 report also said, “More striking, several of the issues that rank among the most serious problems among Democratic voters — including how minorities are treated by the criminal justice system, climate change, the rich-poor gap, gun violence and racism — are viewed as very big problems by fewer than a third of Republican voters.

“For example, 71% of Democratic voters say the way racial and ethnic minorities are treated by the criminal justice system is a very big problem for the country, compared with just 10% of Republican voters. Other issues have a similarly large partisan gap: Democratic voters are 61 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say climate change is a very big problem and are 55 points more likely to say this about the gap between the rich and poor.

“By contrast, illegal immigration is the highest-ranked national problem among GOP voters, but it ranks lowest among the 18 issues for Democratic voters (75% and 19%, respectively, say it is a very big problem). . . .”

A Proposal for the Powhatan Tribe on Warren

Elizabeth Warren

If there are any members of the Powhatan Tribe reading this I have a very serious proposition for all of you, and if you don’t read this, maybe the leaders of another tribe will read it and consider it,” Tim Giago wrote Wednesday for indianz.com.

“Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that provides ‘strong evidence’ she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations.

“Most Native Americans know that just because one claims Indian blood does not mean they are a member of any tribe. One must be enrolled to have this honor. Lord knows that my newspapers over the years [have] helped children adopted out of their tribe to find their way back.

Donald [J.]. Trump has made the unbelievable racial slur of calling Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) ‘Pocahontas.’ Warren is seriously considering running for the job of President of the United States. You can rest assured that Trump and his ilk will immediately seize every opportunity to smear her and inadvertently, every Native American. He is already claiming that the Cherokee Nation agrees with him. And right on cue, a Cherokee spokesperson accommodates his racial slurs.

“Trump has this sickening habit of giving nicknames to anyone he considers to be a political enemy. I am surprised he has not taken to calling Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-California) ‘Aunt Jemima.’ But to call Warren ‘Pocahontas’ right in front of Peter McDonald, former President of the Navajo Nation and a Navajo Code Talker takes the cake. McDonald is pushing 91 years old and if he was younger he probably would’ve knocked the Orange One on his butt.

“Lying Ted Cruz and Little Marco Rubio have both lined up to forgive, forget and kiss Trump’s butt. I don’t think Warren will be so forgiving and forgetful. The only Republican with the guts to stand up to Trump and not forgive and forget is Jeb Bush.

“So consider what I am proposing. If the Powhatan Tribe would adopt Elizabeth Warren into their Tribe and give her the Indian name ‘Pocahontas,’ what would that do to Trump’s smart-assed name calling? The Powhatan Tribe would be doing a great favor to every Indian tribe in America. Plus, every time Trump called Warren ‘Pocahontas’ he would be calling her by her actual Indian name. And to top it off, the national and international publicity that would befall the Powhatan Nation would be priceless. It will put the Tribe back on the map. . . .”

 

At Newseum, ‘Journoladies’ Honor a Forebear

“So a couple dozen journoladies popped into the Newseum today to pay tribute to Alice Allison Dunnigan, the first black woman to cover the White House,” Sonya Ross, race and ethnicity editor for the Associated Press,” wrote Saturday on Facebook.

“There were flowers, libation, brief speeches, tons of photos, smiles, hugs, joy — and a watch.

“Specifically, a watch that belonged to Michel Martin’s father. Michel,” an NPR host, “laid it at the feet of Dunnigan’s statue in symbolic appreciation of the fact that this barrier-breaking correspondent worked for wages so low that she had to pawn her watch every week to make ends meet.

“It felt good to be together in this sacred space for journalists, celebrating the great lady who made careers in American media possible for us.

“Afterward a few of us went to brunch, and decided to do our part going forward to be good stewards of Alice Dunnigan’s legacy.

“#knowyourhistory

“#proud

“#BlackGirlMagic”

Ross spoke to journalist Alicia Shepard about what it was like when she joined the White House press corps as Associated Press reporter in 1995:

“There were strong similarities between my first day there, and the first day Alice described in her book. Some people were welcoming, some didn’t notice my presence and some ignored me altogether. Their sense of entitlement about being there like it wasn’t a big deal was obvious. It was definitely a big deal for me, something I didn’t take for granted.”

The statue of Dunnigan went on display Sept. 21 and is to remain at the Newseum until Dec. 16, when it is to be taken to Dunnigan’s hometown of Russellville, Ky., and installed on the grounds of the West Kentucky African American Heritage Center as part of a park dedicated to the civil rights movement.

John W. Fountain wrote, “I suspected that some in the newsroom saw shining shoes as the kind of trade for which we black folks — even reporters — were best suited.”

Reporter Relates to Paper’s Black Shoeshine Man

As I sat at my desk in the newsroom of a big-city newspaper that fall afternoon in 1989, I could plainly see through the glass office the head of another black man bobbing up and down — up and down,” John W. Fountain wrote Friday for the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I sat inside my cubicle, writing. I could see the frail, dark-skinned elderly gentleman doing something indiscernible from my cushy chair that yielded a partial view into the editor’s office.

“ ‘What in the hell?’ I wondered.

“I couldn’t resist. I stood up to see. There it was. In plain view:

“The gray-haired black man was on his knees. The editor leaned back in his swivel chair, like a modern-day massa’, while the wiry black man, dressed in a blue custodial uniform, buffed out a shine.

“Nobody else in the newsroom seemed unusually stricken by the sight. When I inquired of a veteran black reporter, he shrugged and chuckled, explaining that it was part of the regular goings-on ’round here and that I should get used to it.

“It was my rude awakening to the American newsroom. And I was certain that I could never get used to it. . . .”

Fountain also wrote, “I suspected that some in the newsroom saw shining shoes as the kind of trade for which we black folks — even reporters — were best suited. I felt like just another slave on the plantation. . . .”

Short Takes

At 20, Leonard Pitts, left, interviewed singer Stevie Wonder at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood, Calif. Pitts, a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald, used the photo by Bruce W. Talamon in a column Friday headlined: No offense, Nicki Minaj, but the music of Aretha, Stevie, Marvin and the Tempts feels like home. (Credit: [c] 1977 Bruce W. Talamon; All Rights Reserved.)

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