The Morning News: Trump Continues Racially Motivated Attack on London's Brown and Muslim Mayor

The London Tower Bridge, in nicer days. Dan Kitwood / Getty

It’s Time For Mainstream Media to Describe Trump’s Attacks on London’s Brown and Muslim Mayor as Racist: As if once weren’t enough, President Donald Trump—who is threatening to visit the UK this week to show solidarity after Saturday’s terrorist attack on London Bridge—twisted the words of London’s mayor again in a tweet posted this morning. Trump: “Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM is working hard to sell it!” But as I said in my post concerning Trump’s first attack on Twitter, Khan was clearly not talking about terrorists; he was talking about the police, whose presence will be increased over the next few days, and who would be armed. Londoners might be alarmed by this because they are not used to seeing armed police everywhere.

The statement by Khan:

Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days—no reason to be alarmed. One of the things police and all of us need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be.

The meaning is crystal clear, but the headlines for this story on major news websites make it sound as if there is some ground or justification for Trump’s criticism. For example, ABC News writes: “Trump goes after London Mayor Sadiq Khan again after terror attack.” True, the post does make it clear that Trump is “flagrantly taking the mayor out of context,” but the damage caused by the headline is already done. Most readers will simply assume that Trump is saying something, when in fact he is saying totally nothing. And from this nothingness emerges the real reason for the attack: Trump does not like Khan’s color or his religion. If Trump’s true motive is not made clear in our headlines, we are enabling this brazen racism. And if we do not address this racism, then we will not understand why his whole presidency up to this point has been about destroying the legacy of the US’s first black president. Khan fries this racist man’s brains in exactly the same way Obama does.

US Embassy in London Contradicts Racist President:

I commend the strong leadership of the @MayorofLondon as he leads the city forward after this heinous attack. – LLukens 3/3 https://t.co/p4dDZuCpyO
— U.S. Embassy London (@USAinUK) June 4, 2017

As Trump Presses for a Travel Ban to Keep US Safe from Muslims: A disgruntled ex-employee entered a business in Orlando, Florida and killed four people and himself. Many on the right were hoping the killer was a Muslim, but he is just a regular American doing something that Americans have become too used to. Already in 2017, there have been 181 mass shootings that have claimed the lives of 252 Americans.

Link Light Rail Begins Adding More Cars Today: The popularity of Link Light rail continues to grow and grow. In April, there was a “17-percent increase in weekday ridership from last year.” And April last year was the first full month of the extended line. Sound Transit is expecting a very busy summer.

Record-Breaking Home Prices in Vancouver, BC Are Back: They went away for several months after the foreign-buyer tax was imposed late last year. But in May, the average prices for single detached homes hit their highest level ever—$1.831 million CDN. The surge in prices suggests that the tax is not working. But Kerry Gold, a reporter who has been covering Vancouver’s housing crisis over the years, explained to me that the surge in home prices is to be expected because nothing was done about the problem for so long.

Gold’s words:

Prices are still ridiculously high. The average house in the city’s middle class neighbourhood, on the east side, is around $1.7 million Cdn dollars. This is what happens when government fails to act on foreign speculation until it’s way too late. Our 15 per cent foreign buyer tax did little. The new provincial government is talking about doubling the foreign buyer tax to 30 per cent, but nothing is for sure yet. They’re also talking about a speculation tax. They’re struggling to get control of the situation, but there is too much foreign capital already in the market.

Evergreen State College Closed Again Because of a New Threat: The college closed last Thursday because of a violent threat it received in connection with an incident that involved a biology professor (who students claimed is a racist) and students (who the right-wing media claim are intolerant liberals). The college was considering opening again today, but it received a new threat this weekend and decided to remain closed as the police investigate the matter. Ana Sofia Knauf’s post “What We Know About the Lockdown and Unrest at Evergreen State College” provides an background to this crisis.

A Bellingham Grandmother Runs Over and Kills 1-Year-Old Granddaughter While Backing Up Her SUV In Her Home’s Driveway: According to KOMO, the police believe drugs or alcohol were not involved in this deadly accident.

Clashes Between Pro-President Donald Rally and Anti-Hate Rally at Portland’s City Hall Ends With 14 Arrests and Seized Weapons: These events followed the fatal stabbings on a Portland light rail train. The suspect in those murders is a known white supremacist. Trump has no plans to visit Portland in a show of solidarity with the victims and the two teenagers (one black American, the other Muslim) whose lives were threatened by the killer.