https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/03/politics/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/index.html
Keystone, South Dakota (CNN)President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Friday to celebrate an early Fourth of July at a gathering of an estimated 7,500 people during a global pandemic.
No social distancing was planned for the event despite the record-high new coronavirus cases in the United States. And the event is taking place amid environmental concerns over the use of fireworks in the dry land and as the country engages in a reckoning over its own monuments and racist history.
"We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks if they choose to wear one. But we won't be social distancing," Republican Gov. Kristi Noem said during a Monday appearance on Fox News.
There may be health screening for ticketed guests in one area, according to recreation.gov. A recording on the park's main telephone line Monday said: "There are no social distancing requirements in place at this time."
CNN is totally full of bologna here!!!
1. SD has extremely low COVID numbers. Cumulative deaths for the entire state are under 100 and most of those are from 1 county on the MN/IA border. There will likely be out of state people there however.
2. This is outdoors, where the risks are much lower.
3. They were passing out masks for those that didn't have one and wanted to wear one.
4. This is totally different than the rally in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago that was inside with people sitting next to each other for hours and cheering/yelling much of the time........without masks.
5. How can they bash Trump over this, yet encourage protestors to continue to go out and "fight back" against this dictator president by expressing their freedom of speech?
There has been more than 200 times the number of people at those protests that they are encouraging than at this event.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/us/cheyenne-river-sioux-tribe-mount-rushmore-trnd/index.html
"The dark history of Mount Rushmore's sculpture itself takes center stage with Trump's visit. The President, who has stoked racial animus since he first entered the political arena, has moved to defend racist monuments in the face of nationwide protests over the treatment of Black Americans. Friday's event, however, was planned before the nationwide unrest."
Now there is a display of yellow journalism that once again doesn't give us the objective news, but instead uses a story about the news to insert their blatantly biased interpretations intended to smear Trump, make him out to be a racist and get the readers to hate him as much as they do.
These people have no scruples and their is no limit to how far they will go. Now, even the great NON racist presidents on Mount Rushmore are the latest target. In a previous story from CNN, it was even mentioned that the sculptor was a member of the KKK.
So now we are justifying destroying anything that a racist created, great sculptures/works of art, even when it had nothing..........zero to do with their views on race.
This person below is very unprofessional and ought to be ashamed of themselves.
By Betsy Klein, CNN
Updated 10:04 PM ET, Fri July 3, 2020
This continues to be complete bs/fake news from the MSM, especially CNN that Trump is a racist and supports White Supremacy. Biden and the democrats keep saying it too. It's diabolical to destroy a man with false accusations.
Trump has loads of character flaws that they continually take advantage of, so they don't need to make this one up for their political agenda. Just use the truth please!
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/trump-has-condemned-white-supremacists/
"Now, even the great NON racist presidents on Mount Rushmore are the latest target."
I think people should be judged relative to the times that they lived in. So condemning a slave owner of 250 years ago from the evolved landscape of the 21st century is unfair in my view. However, I think it is fair to judge a man by the standards of the day in which he lived. George Washington freed his slaves upon his death as he promised.
Jefferson lived beyond his means and his slaves were sold upon his death like cattle with families being broken up. Jefferson hired the cruelest slave overseer in Virginia. He broke promises to Sally Hemings regarding the freedom her children (THEIR CHILDREN) during his lifetime. Although his children were freed upon his death.
Washington was a typical slave owner of his time and a great president. He established the tradition of peaceful transfer of power when all around him wanted him to be president (even king) for life.
Jefferson was a liar (hypocritical), pretty selfish and unduly cruel to his slaves. So in my view, Jefferson deserves low marks even as judged by the times he lived in.
I encourage people to read "Master of the Mountain" by Henry Wiencek. It is all about Jefferson and his relationship to his slaves.
I have no desire to remove Jefferson from Mt Rushmore, nor would it bother me if he was removed, but I'd like to see the truth about him revealed in history classes taught to children.
Well reasoned JOJ, but questionable "facts". Jefferson was a scholar and a genius and much of the value in our constitution is a direct result of his input. The constitution is the blueprint of what is arguably the most successful experiment in self government in the history of mankind.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/true/primer.html
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joj,
Great points.
On this one:
"I'd like to see the truth about him revealed in history classes taught to children"
You open up a huge can or worms when you decide to put too much emphasis on personal character flaws as part of the overall picture when studying the lives of great men.
We are focusing on minorities at this point in time but we all know that women's rights were blatantly abused for centuries(as they were treated as inferior to men in everything except raising children and making the man's home a good one for him).
They only got the right to vote 101 years ago! There are many more women in this country than there are blacks.
I will just give a couple of examples here, aimed at the idea of what character flaws, regarding great men should be taught in classes to children.
John F Kennedy
https://www.historyhit.com/a-detailed-list-of-jfks-affairs/
"It was these images of JFK playing with his two children, John Jr. and Caroline, or stood alongside his famous, urbane wife Jackie, that shaped the image of Kennedy the man during his political career. However, the record shows that JFK had a propensity for prostitutes and risqué sexual encounters that bordered on the criminally irresponsible."
metmike: One can say that a mans sexual life is his personal life and something different altogether but Kennedy cheated on his wife repeatedly. Is this not important if we are judging his overall character? This was more than him just having an insatiable sexual appetite. He clearly took advantage of his great political power to USE WOMEN with a neurotic obsession.
Imagine if Obama or Trump were busted having an affair while in office?(Trump had one we know about previous to his presidency).
Today's standards are different and Kennedy was president during my lifetime.
Bill Clinton
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1998/05/williams199805
metmike: We know that he too had affairs, using his political power to USE WOMEN to satisfy his sexual desires. Personal sex life is one thing but violating the oath of marriage and the specific circumstances which clearly show Bill Clinton as a womanizer is not relevant if we are going to make character of the person a key historical learning element for children?
Having slaves and even being cruel to them was legal in Jefferson's day, even acceptable in their society. Was what Kennedy and Clinton did acceptable in society while they were president? This is our generation.
With the "me too" movement gaining great traction in recent years, of course this is relevant.........if you want to focus on the man's character.
Today, we are using some flimsy connections to race and ethics in order to justify removing statues and monuments. The objective by many is actually to remove things that represent the old culture so that the new culture can be established/imposed with greater ease.
It seems just as relevant to consider women, who were treated as 2nd class citizens and subservient to men for centuries.
My opinion, is like yours joj, they should be judged by the times they lived in but the only disagreement being that their character flaws and personal lives that defined their relationships with blacks or women, should not be taught as important to defining what they accomplished.
What really is accomplished in teaching kids about all the affairs that Kennedy had? One can understand the Monica thing because it became part of the impeachment history but other than that, why teach kids about affairs and presidents cheating on their wives.............or that they were mean to the slaves?
Women matter too.