GOP, The Hajj, Sarah Sanders: 3 Stories You Should Read 8/15/2018
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In the category of: Not nailing yourself to a cross that’s on fire.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ‘I Can’t Guarantee’ Trump Never Said Racial Slur
“I haven’t been in every single room,” the White House press secretary said when asked if she’d heard Trump “utter the ‘N-word.’”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday she “can’t guarantee” that Americans will never hear President Donald Trump say the “N-word” on a recording in light of accusations from former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.
“Can you stand at the podium and guarantee the American people they’ll never hear Donald Trump utter the ‘N-word’ on a recording, in any context?” NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Huckabee Sanders during a press briefing.
“I’ve never heard him use that term or anything similar,” Huckabee Sanders said, adding, “I haven’t been in every single room.”
Manigault Newman released on Tuesday a recording of several of Trump’s campaign aides discussing how to handle the potential fallout if an alleged video of Trump using a racial slur surfaced.
In the category of: Almost two million people are doing it and you probably don’t understand it.
Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, explained for non-Muslims
It’s like Burning Man, but for Muslims. Okay, it’s nothing like Burning Man.
The hajj — Arabic for “pilgrimage” — is a five-day religious pilgrimage to Mecca and nearby holy sites in Saudi Arabia that all Muslims who are physically and financially able must perform at least once in their lives. It is one of the five pillars, or duties, of Islam, along with the profession of faith in the one God and Mohammed as his prophet, prayer, charitable giving, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
The hajj takes place only once a year, in the 12th and final month of the Islamic lunar calendar; pilgrimages to Mecca made at other times in the year are encouraged but do not count as the hajj. Because the Islamic lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the 365 days of the standard Gregorian calendar, the timing of the hajj moves backward each year.
Over the five days of the hajj, pilgrims perform a series of rituals meant to symbolize their unity with other believers and to pay tribute to God. On the last three days of the hajj, pilgrims — as well as all other Muslims around the world — celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice. This is one of the two major religious holidays Muslims celebrate every year. (The other is Eid al-Fitr, which comes at the end of Ramadan.)
In the category of: When all else fails, just walk straight to the dark side.
Republicans want voters to believe they’re living in a horror movie.
A few days before the Wisconsin primary election, before Democrats picked the candidate they hoped could finally take down Scott Walker, the Republican governor sent shivers down the spines of the voters who gathered to hear him speak at a campaign rally.
It was a stump line for Halloween and haunted houses, not the August humidity.
“Those other things — health care, education — none of that matters unless you’re safe,” Walker said at a campaign stop last week, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report headlined, “Scott Walker says Democrats would make Wisconsin more dangerous.”
There was no ambiguity or subtlety. If Democrats win, you and your family are in danger. Democrats want to let violent criminals back onto the street, Walker claimed. It sounded like anodyne Wisconsin (15th lowest crime rate out of 50, for the record) would be plagued by anarchy or mass murder or both.
If you were to distill the prevailing Republican campaign message for the 2018 midterm elections to one image, it would be this: a hooded figure in the shadows, machete (or knife or bladed fingers) in hand, waiting to pounce if the wrong candidate wins.
Life is a horror movie and it’s Democrats behind the hockey mask. Vote Republican.
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