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Fact check: Was Kamala Harris truthful in interview with Black journalists?

During her interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris criticised former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Republican Senator JD Vance, for spreading misinformation about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. In the presidential debate held last week, Trump claimed that immigrants in the Midwestern state were eating residents’ pets. “When you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand how much your words have meaning,” Harris said on Tuesday. “I learned at a very young stage of my career that the meaning of my words could impact whether someone was free or in prison.” On Israel’s war on Gaza, Harris reiterated that Israel has a right to defend itself, following Hamas’s October 7 attack last year, but didn’t have a straight answer for co-moderator and Politico White House Correspondent Eugene Daniels’ question about how her policies would differ from President Joe Biden’s. Harris said “We need to get this deal done,” referring to freeing captives and a ceasefire deal. The discussion took place at US public radio station WHYY in downtown Philadelphia and featured Daniels, theGrio White House correspondent and Managing Editor of Politics Gerren Keith Gaynor and WHYY Fresh Air programme co-host Tonya Mosley as moderators. Harris’s interview happened days after Trump was targeted in an apparent assassination attempt. Harris said she spoke to Trump earlier in the day. “There’s no place for political violence in our country,” Harris said. In addition to these topics, the moderators tried to get specifics from Harris about her positions on the economy and healthcare. We fact-checked several of her claims. Economy ‘Worst unemployment since the Great Depression’ When Harris and Biden took office, replacing Trump, the US had “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”. False. Harris had also made this claim during the presidential debate against Trump. She’s wrong. The US unemployment rate spiked to a post-Great Depression record of 14.8 percent in April 2020, as the pandemic escalated. Trump was in office then. But by December 2020, before Biden and Harris took office, the unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent – high for recent history but well below numerous spikes during recessions. Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris criticised former President Donald Trump during her interview with members of the National Association of Black Journalists [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] ‘Lowest Black unemployment rate in generations’ Harris: “We have the lowest Black unemployment rate in generations.” Half True. The Black unemployment rate in August, the most recent month available, was 6.1 percent. That’s low by historical standards, though it’s up from a record low of 4.8 percent set in April 2023. Black unemployment was also low under Trump, which was not “generations” ago. Trump set a record low of 5.3 percent in September 2019 which was later eclipsed by the record low under Biden. Reduced Black child poverty ‘by half’ Harris: “When we expanded the Child Tax Credit a couple years ago, we reduced Back child poverty by half.” Mostly True. The White House, after Biden made a similar claim in February 2023, said Black child poverty fell from 17.2 percent in 2020 to 8.3 percent in 2021, a 52 percent drop. The drop from 2019, the White House said, was 60 percent. The White House cited supplemental poverty numbers from the Census Bureau. The supplemental poverty measure, introduced in 2011, updated the official poverty measure, which was based on cash resources. The supplemental poverty measure includes cash and non-cash benefits and accounts for government programmes designed to aid low-income families. Biden’s American Rescue Plan increased the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,600 for children younger than six and to $3,000 for children aged six to 17. Beneficiaries, which included families with very low incomes that weren’t required to file tax returns, received up to half the credit in monthly payments from July 2021 to December 2021. The provision lapsed after that, facing opposition from Republicans and independent Senator Joe Manchin, who said expanding the credit would worsen inflation. When the expanded tax credit expired, child poverty spiked. Supplemental child poverty rose from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022 – a 41 percent change. This meant 3.7 million more children were living below the poverty line in 2022 compared with 2021. Creating new jobs Harris: “As of today, we have created over 16 million new jobs, over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs.” Mostly True. Non-farm employment has increased by about 15.9 million jobs from January 2021 to August 2024, the period that Biden and Harris have been in office. Manufacturing employment has risen by 739,000. However, there are a few caveats. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal agency that calculates how many people are working, said in August that the initial statistics may have overstated job gains by 818,000. This revision was part of the bureau’s annual effort to fine-tune initial data that the agency acknowledges is imperfect. That would reduce the job gains to about 15 million jobs, not 16 million. But for now, the old numbers Harris was using are the official ones. Any changes would be finalised early next year. Another caveat is that no president can claim full credit for job gains on their watch (or job losses). Many factors that go into employment changes stem from developments beyond presidents’ control, including the health of the global economy. Healthcare Black people are ’60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes’ Harris: “We know Black folks are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes.” True. Black adults in 2018 were 60 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows. In 2019, Black adults were 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalised with the condition and have associated long-term complications. The group was also twice as likely as non-Hispanic white people to die from the disease, the

More deadly explosions hit Lebanon, a day after Hezbollah pager blasts

BREAKINGBREAKING, Lebanon’s state media says three people killed in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, as more explosions reported across the country. At least one person has been killed and hundreds were wounded in Lebanon in a new wave of blasts related to communication devices, the Health Ministry has said, a day after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah detonated across the country. Multiple explosions were reported across Lebanon on Wednesday, with Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reporting that pagers and “devices” exploded in Hezbollah strongholds in the east and south of Beirut. The Iran-backed group’s Al Manar TV reported explosions in multiple areas of Lebanon, which it said were the result of walkie-talkies detonating. Hezbollah’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, witnessed two explosions. “There was a car that exploded just behind us. At the same time, there was an explosion at another place [nearby],” he said. “I’m currently in the middle of the street. There are a lot of ambulances, chaos everywhere.” Several blasts took place simultaneously, Hashem said, similar to what happened on Tuesday. “But this time, it was mostly walkie-talkies or radios [that exploded],” he said, adding that reports suggested that solar devices and some batteries in cars also exploded. Lebanon’s official news agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut. In Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said a blast was reported in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital city. “We are hearing a lot of ambulance activity in the area suggesting there may be well casualties coming here or other hospitals nearby, possibly as a result of explosions within Beirut itself.” The new round of explosions took place a day after pagers used by Hezbollah, a Lebanese Iran-backed group, exploded nearly simultaneously in several locations across Lebanon, killing at least 12 people, including two children, and wounding around 2,800. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for Tuesday’s attacks. Adblock test (Why?)

Deaths reported as more communication devices explode in Lebanon

NewsFeed At least 3 people have been killed and hundreds injured in Lebanon when more communication devices exploded a day after the massive simultaneous detonation of pagers used by members of Hezbollah. Published On 18 Sep 202418 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

J-K Assembly Election 2024: 59% voter turnout recorded in Phase 1

A turnout of about 59 percent — the highest in the past seven elections — was recorded in the first phase of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said, adding polling passed off peacefully.

UP man appeals to President, PM Modi to save daughter facing death sentence in UAE

Shahzadi has been implicated in the murder of a child.

Mpox Scare: Man tests positive in Kerala after returning from…

The man, who came to the state from the UAE recently, was already admitted to a hospital here with Mpox symptoms, state Health Minister Veena George said in a Facebook post.

Kamala Harris once said police to could pay surprise visits to legal gun owners’ homes for safe storage checks

As San Francisco’s district attorney, Kamala Harris told legal gun owners in her community that authorities could “walk into” their homes to inspect whether they were storing their firearms properly under a new law she helped draft. “We’re going to require responsible behaviors among everybody in the community, and just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs,” Harris told a group of reporters in May 2007.  The remarks came during a press conference introducing legislation that Harris helped draft, which sought to impose penalties for gun owners who fail to store their firearms properly at home.  The bill, which at the time had just been introduced to the city’s board of supervisors, was ultimately signed into law a few months later by then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. It was bundled with other gun control provisions, including a new requirement for legal gun distributors to submit an inventory to the chief of police every six months, and a ban on possessing guns – even legally – in public housing. “San Francisco now has the strictest anti-gun laws in the county,” Newsom said when he signed the new laws. HARRIS SURPRISES SOCIAL MEDIA BY SAYING SHE’S A GUN OWNER During the May 2007 press conference discussing the safe-storage bill, Harris said the new measure was about legislating “our values” in an attempt to “encourage certain kinds of behavior.” “When we create laws, it’s not only about creating an opportunity, if you will, to prosecute someone for committing a crime, but more importantly, when we legislate our values, it’s about trying to encourage certain types of behavior,” she said at the time.  Harris has faced criticism for statements she has made about her “values” heading into November. She told CNN last month they “have not changed,” while simultaneously switching on long-held policies on almost every front. Since becoming the Democratic nominee for president, Harris has tried to paint a more moderate picture of herself in an attempt to distance herself from President Biden and appeal to a wider swath of voters.  “As she said last night in her interview, her values have not changed. She said that over and over again,” Lora Ries, a border security expert at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital after the CNN interview. “She is telling her base, ‘Look, don’t worry about what the campaign is saying right now. We just have to say that to try and get elected. But my values have not changed.’” VP HARRIS SHREDDED FOR CLAIMING ‘MY VALUES HAVE NOT CHANGED’ AMID POLICY FLIP-FLOPS: ‘STILL A RADICAL’ Meanwhile, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Harris was dropping far-left policies she previously held “in order to win the election.” “Her views are not mine, but I do consider her a progressive,” he told NBC’s “Meet The Press” earlier this month.  During last week’s presidential debate, Harris was asked about her shifting position on mandatory gun buybacks by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis, but she did not directly respond to the question until former President Donald Trump kept probing her about having “a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun.” Harris supported mandatory gun buybacks while running for president in 2019, saying they were “a good idea.” “This business about taking everyone’s guns away. Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff,” Harris said in response to Trump’s criticisms.  James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesperson, told Fox News Digital that a potential Harris administration would “uphold and defend the law and rights of Americans, including the Second Amendment.” “The law in question, requiring sensible gun storage in homes, was upheld by Republican appointed judges in the ninth circuit and declined to be reviewed by the Supreme Court,” he added. “As Vice President Harris said on the debate stage, she is a gun owner who supports common-sense safety laws that Donald Trump opposes.” SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF NRA IN KEY FIRST AMENDMENT CASE Harris has a long history of clashing with the National Rifle Association (NRA), considered by many as the nation’s most powerful gun rights lobbying group. In 2009, the NRA challenged the San Francisco law prohibiting guns from public housing and won. However, the Supreme Court, before its recent shakeup under Trump, refused to hear an appeal from the NRA and other gun rights advocates after the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rejected their pleas to relax San Francisco’s safe storage law.  “Law-abiding residents must keep their handguns inoperable or inaccessible precisely when they are needed most for self-defense — in the middle of the night, while the residents are asleep and decidedly not carrying,” attorneys for the NRA and other gun rights advocates said at the time. Meanwhile, a ruling written by one of the 9th circuit judges determined the law “does not substantially prevent law-abiding citizens from using firearms to defend themselves in the home.” The judge, appointed during the George W. Bush administration, added that San Francisco had demonstrated the law “serves a significant government interest by reducing the number of gun-related injuries and deaths from having an unlocked handgun in the home.”

Bipartisan House duo cracks down on gun trafficking at US-Mexico border

EXCLUSIVE: A bipartisan House duo is rolling out a plan on Wednesday to crack down on gun trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, are leading a bill that would beef up manpower at outbound inspection points at the southern border and require inspections for at least 10% of outbound transport from the U.S. to Mexico. The Secretary of Homeland Security would then be required to write a report on those inspections and the feasibility of raising the minimum threshold up to 15 or 20%. TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE DEMANDS INTERNAL DOCS ON HARRIS’ ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS: ‘ABJECT FAILURE’ Regarding personnel, the bill would direct Customs and Border Patrol to have at least 500 officers focused on inspecting the flow of goods and people from the U.S. into Mexico, as well as increased Homeland Security Investigations personnel who are specifically focused on currency and firearms smuggling investigations. On the equipment front, the bipartisan legislation is also seeking to expand resources for southern border inspections, including 50 additional non-intrusive imaging systems, according to a summary previewed by Fox News Digital. Crenshaw said the illegal flow of currency and firearms at the border “fuel the cartel’s war in Mexico and the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning Americans.” “As it stands, U.S. Customs and Border Protection do not have the resources to monitor southbound flows — but this bill helps fix that and serves as a good step in taking the fight to the cartels and disrupts their business operations,” he said in a statement. TRUMP REVEALS NEW PLEDGE AMID HAITIAN REFUGEE CONTROVERSY: ‘I WILL SAVE OUR CITIES’  Spanberger, invoking her background in criminal justice, said in a statement, “As a former CIA case officer who tracked cartels, I understand how these criminals smuggle firearms and bulk currency across our southern border to move the illicit proceeds that continue to fuel their criminal operations.” “We must continue working to stem the flow of deadly fentanyl into our communities — and we can do so by working to cut off the steady supply of contraband that props up the drug trade,” she said. Spanberger is leaving the House at the end of this year to run for governor of Virginia, and Republicans are eyeing her seat in the Washington, D.C., suburbs as a ripe pickup opportunity. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS Her emphasis on border security, with this bill and support for the now-defunct bipartisan Senate border deal, appears to be part of a wider paradigm shift for Democrats as they seek to hold onto the White House and Senate, as well as keep the House, in November. Vulnerable Democrats in particular have emphasized their support for the border deal, which was eventually killed by an avalanche of GOP opposition, as the migrant crisis continues to burden cities and states around the country. Spanberger and Crenshaw’s bill is called the Enhancing Southbound Inspections to Combat Cartels Act. It has a companion bill in the Senate led by Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and James Langford, R-Okla. — one of the architects of the original Senate border deal. Even with bipartisan support, however, it’s not clear the new House bill will see a chamber-wide vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other GOP opponents of the Biden administration have responded to its calls for increased funding at the border with arguments that more money is not a sufficient solution to what they see as fundamentally flawed policies. Democrats in turn have accused Republicans of using the border crisis as a political football.

Secret Service told locals they would ‘take care of’ building used by Thomas Crooks to shoot Trump

FIRST ON FOX: Secret Service agents assured Butler County, Pennsylvania, law enforcement that they would secure the building that would-be assassin Thomas Crooks shot former President Trump and others from on July 13 during an outdoor rally, per an investigation by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. “Butler County law enforcement officials stated that at separate times during the walkthrough, when they reiterated their concerns to the agents and counter sniper about securing the AGR complex buildings, the agents responded: ‘we will take care of it,’” Grassley’s office revealed in a Tuesday letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe. Trump was shot in the ear during his July rally in the Pennsylvania town, and one attendee was killed while two others were critically injured. It was later discovered that the shooter had positioned himself atop a nearby building and had been known to law enforcement who observed him ahead of the event.  SUSPECTED TRUMP GUNMAN PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED FOR HAVING WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION The Iowa senator questioned Rowe whether the Butler County law enforcement officials’ claim is true and, if so, what the Secret Service did to secure the area with the AGR complex buildings. Grassley noted that in the weeks following the first assassination attempt, Rowe told senators during a hearing, “what was communicated is that the locals had a plan and that they had been there before,” in regard to the roof of the AGR building where Crooks took his shots from.  ‘AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE’: SENATE REPUBLICANS CONDEMN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY’S UN BID TO UNDERMINE ISRAEL This, he said, was directly disputed by the law enforcement officials in interviews with Grassley’s staff.  The commitment from Secret Service agents to secure the AGR complex area allegedly came during a walkthrough on July 11 in preparation for the rally. The law enforcement officials claimed to have alerted the agents to their concerns about the area several times during it.  TOP SENATE DEMOCRAT ‘ANGRY’ OVER BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN ‘STONEWALLING’ AFTER TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS The Republican further reiterated his various information requests to the Secret Service and noted that at least two had resulted in claims “that it would not provide responses to my requests due to other ongoing investigations and reviews.” “That’s unacceptable and fails to take into consideration Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct independent oversight. It also flies in the face of your congressional testimony about responding to Congress,” the senator charged.  GOP DEMANDS TRUMP HAVE ‘SAME LEVEL’ SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AS BIDEN AFTER 2ND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Grassley’s ongoing independent investigation is probing several incidents, including the July 13 assassination attempt; the recently revealed plot by an alleged Iranian agent, Asif Merchant, to assassinate a politician or U.S. official, potentially Trump; and the second assassination attempt on the former president that took place in Florida on Sunday.  The Secret Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Top House committee shreds Biden-Harris admin on border crisis in new report: ‘Assault on the rule of law’

FIRST ON FOX: A massive report released Wednesday by the Republican majority on the House Homeland Security Committee is accusing the Biden-Harris administration of launching an “assault on the rule of law” in its handling of the crisis at the southern border — and warning of consequences for years to come. “Quite simply, [President] Biden, [Vice President Kamala] Harris, and [Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas have launched an assault on the rule of law, and in so doing, have undermined the sovereignty, national security, and long-term wellbeing of the country they claim to serve,” the report, “Crisis by Design: A Comprehensive Look at the Biden-Harris Administration’s Unprecedented Border Crisis” says. “Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas were entrusted with the responsibility to secure the border, enforce the law, and keep Americans safe. They have not only broken that trust, but willfully cast aside their sacred obligation to the American people.” TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE RAMPS UP PRESSURE TO OBTAIN ‘IMPORTANT’ DOCS ON HARRIS’ ROLE IN BORDER CRISIS  The report outlines at length Republican claims that the historic three-year crisis at the southern border and related havoc throughout the country caused by illegal immigration is a direct result of the rolling back of Trump-era policies and the implementation of what Republicans have called open border policies. It points to more than 11.6 million encounters nationwide by the end of the Biden administration, not including the undetected “gotaways.” “The flood of inadmissible aliens across America’s sovereign borders has been objectively unprecedented,” they said. It points to remarks from House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green. “[E]ven if not one more inadmissible alien crossed our borders for the remainder of Biden and Harris’ term, the millions they have already allowed into our country have done damage that will take decades to remedy.” The report accuses the administration of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” and alleged a scheme to flood ports of entry with inadmissible foreign nationals by the use of mass parole via the CBP One app at ports of entry and via a separate program to bring in 30,000 nationals from four countries a month. Among the costs of the border crisis are the importation of fentanyl, additional crime and costs on cities like New York City, Denver and other parts of the country, including in law enforcement, transportation and on social services. It also finds that the crisis has resulted in more power going to criminal cartels and gangs who take control of the border and exploit migrants. “Multiple factors have enabled the cartels’ unprecedented seizure of control at the Southwest border – and they can all be traced back to the Biden-Harris administration’s open-borders policies,” it says. The report takes aim at Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who the House impeached earlier this year but whose trial was not taken up by the Senate. In this report, the Republicans criticize not only Mayorkas but also President Biden and Vice President Harris, who it says was an “abject failure” in what it describes as her role as “border czar.” Harris was tasked with tackling root causes of migration in 2021, but the White House has rejected the term border czar. “It is time for the Biden-Harris administration to follow the law and end this crisis—or step aside,” the report says. TRUMP REVEALS NEW PLEDGE AMID HAITIAN REFUGEE CONTROVERSY: ‘I WILL SAVE OUR CITIES’  The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The report comes ahead of a hearing on the matter later on Wednesday morning, and as immigration has become a top issue for voters ahead of November’s election. While Republicans blame the Biden administration for the crisis, the administration and Democrats say it is the fault of Congress for failing to pass broader immigration reforms to fix a “broken” system and provide additional funding. It has also secured additional funding for technology at ports of entry to better interdict fentanyl, while pointing to successful efforts of aggressive action against smugglers. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS The administration has thrown its weight behind a bipartisan Senate bill that would have provided more funding and placed some limits on asylum entries into the U.S. Republicans said the bill would codify high levels of illegal immigration and pointed instead to a border package passed by the House last year. With that stalling, President Biden signed an order limiting entries into the U.S. in June. The administration says that has caused a sharp drop in encounters at the border since then, with a drop of more than 50%. “For months, the Biden-Harris administration worked with a bipartisan group of Senators to craft a historic bipartisan border security agreement that would have added thousands of frontline personnel to the border — but Congressional Republicans voted against that agreement twice — proving that they are more interested in cynically playing politics than securing the border,” the White House said last month. “The Biden-Harris Administration has taken effective action, and Republicans continue to do nothing.”