Harvey Downgraded to a Tropical Depression

We continue our coverage of Harvey, which The National Weather Service has downgraded to a tropical depression providing some hope of relief from the torrential rains and flooding. 

It’s estimated that the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey will cost approximately $200 Billion to clean up everything in Texas and Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina’s costs came in around $160 Billion for cleanup and Super Storm Sandy was $70 Billion. Harvey is the most expensive cleanup for a storm in U.S. history. 

The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that more than 37,000 homes have sustained major damage and nearly 7,000 have been destroyed by Harvey and it’s flooding and the death toll is around 30 people. 

Those figures come from a daily damage estimate compiled from reports by local officials and the figures have been rising.

Harris County, which includes Houston, reports that nearly 30,000 homes suffered minor damage and nearly 12,000 have major damage. Jefferson County, which includes Port Arthur and Beaumont, reports that 5,500 homes were destroyed and 16,000 others sustained major damage in areas where officials have warned that flooding could continue for days. 

Meanwhile, explosions erupted at a flooded Houston-area chemical plant producing no toxins, although federal authorities are describing the resulting plumes as “incredibly dangerous.” 

Assistant Harris County Fire Chief Bob Rayall told a news conference Thursday that the explosions emitted 30- to 40-foot flames and black smoke. 

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said no toxins were released and that there’s no danger to the community. He says sheriff’s deputies who were hospitalized suffering from irritated eyes after the blasts have all been released. 

But at a news conference in Washington, D.C. Thursday, FEMA administrator Brock Long said he considers plumes from the explosion “incredibly dangerous.” 

Gonzalez says he expects the fire to burn itself out.

FOX News Poll- How American’s view President Trump

A FOX News Poll released today asked if Americans approve of the job that President Trump is doing. 41% of Americans approve, 55% of Americans disapprove, and 4% don’t know. 

Among Republicans 82% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president and 6% of Democrats disapprove.

When asked if Donald Trump is drawing the country together or tearing the country apart, 33% said Trump is drawing the country together, 56% said that Trump is tearing the country apart and 11% responded that they don’t know. The way this question was worded was provocative and should have been thrown out. 

Do you think President Trump will finish his term? 58% of the people polled said yes, 34% said no. 

Do you think Donald Trump respects racial minorities? 41% of the people polled said yes (same number as his approval percentage), 56% said no.

Another interesting poll question was “Who do you think Donald Trump dislikes more- white supremacists or the news media?” 13% of Americans polled said white supremacists, 70% said the news media, 12% said dislikes both and 6% said they don’t know. I think this is the most accurate question in the entire poll. 

49% of Americans equate the news media with white supremacists as far as damage to the USA, it’s unbelievable! 

The national news media is now a lobbying center for the far left and for liberal principles, that’s what they’ve turned into. 

Bill and Bernie Goldberg Talk Shop

Bernie starts off the interview talking about how he hears from a lot of Trump supporters and the one issue more than anything else, more than the wall, taxes or immigration policy is how they dislike the media. Trump supporters are almost universally against the media. 

The media brings a lot of this on itself, however, Donald Trump is just dead wrong when he speaks about “fake news”. The combination of Trump badmouthing the press on a regular basis and what the press has done to deserve the lack of respect on its own, creates an atmosphere where people just don’t believe and trust the mainstream media.

During the discussion, Bill and Bernie brought up their time working at CBS and how they went out to find the truth of what was happening in any given situation. Today, that is not what is happening in journalism. 

Bernie makes the point that he thinks the press is negatively conspiring around President Trump. When Trump went down to visit affected areas of Hurricane Harvey it’s likely that members of the press got together to figure out what critical things they could say about him and his wife.

Yesterday, someone wrote a letter saying that ‘you’re a Trump hater’ by being too tough on Trump. Our rebuttal was that all of our interviews with Trump have been covered fairly, just go back and look at them, but now because of all of these ‘hate Trump’ movements there’s a feeling to defend Trump more than normal. 

You need a free press, but you also need a fair press and most journalists today are not fair.

Dartmouth faculty supports professor's comments justifying Antifa violence

Mark Bray, the author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook" and visiting professor at the Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth, appeared in dozens of television interviews after the Antifa movement gained national traction following deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Va. earlier in August. Bray supported Antifa's violence, dubbing it "self-defense" and a "legitimate response" to what he termed white supremacist and neo-Nazi violence.  

Bray was a guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Aug. 20 and said this: "I think that a lot of people recognize that, when pushed, self-defense is a legitimate response to white supremacy and neo-Nazi violence.” Bray went on to say, “The lesson of history is you need to take it with the utmost seriousness before it’s too late," Bray continued, adding that demonstrations are necessary to tell neo-Nazis and white supremacists "You can't make this normal."  

After Bray’s comments more than 100 Dartmouth College faculty members rushed to support him despite the Dartmouth president's condemnation of the professor's support for the so-called anti-fascist group. 

A day after the controversial interview, Dartmouth President Philip Hanlon, troubled by Bray's support of the violent Antifa protests, condemned the professor's comments, Valley News reported. 

"As an institution, we condemn anything but civil discourse in the exchange of opinions and ideas," Hanlon said on Aug. 21. "Dartmouth embraces free speech and open inquiry in all matters, and all on our campus enjoy the freedom to speak, write, listen and debate in pursuit of better learning and understanding; however, the endorsement of violence in any form is contrary to Dartmouth values."

Mueller, N.Y. Attorney General Joining Forces on Manafort Probe

Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the office of New York's Attorney General are coordinating their probes of former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort's finances. 

A senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the matter confirms the cooperation, which was first reported by Politico. The official said coordination is not surprising given the common subject of the investigation and the desire for the two teams to coordinate their efforts. 

In addition, the teams include two veterans of white collar crime and corruption prosecutions who have worked together before. Andrew Goldstein, who recently left the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan to work with Mueller's team, and Howard Master, who recently joined the AG's team from the same U.S. Attorney's office, shared an award for their joint prosecution of a municipal fraud and kickback case involving more than 150 foreign and domestic bank accounts. 

Manafort was involved with the Trump campaign for five months, serving as a campaign chairman for three of those months until he resigned.

• March 29, 2016: Manafort joins the Trump campaign
• May 19, 2016: Manafort is promoted to campaign chairman
• August 19, 2016: Manafort resigns 

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is examining all of Manafort's real estate transactions in New York State. 

Manafort's properties have come under scrutiny from investigators because experts say they fit a pattern that raises questions about how he was moving his money.

As we’ve mentioned before it is Paul Manafort who is in the most danger. If anyone has to take the fall we believe it will be Manafort.

Mail Time!

• It’s absurd to say that if Trump doesn’t get a tax cut through Congress, he’s done. Somehow Trump has to find a way to convince Republicans and a few Democrats to support the tax cuts and if he doesn’t it’s over. 

• Bill, I think you bent over backwards to be fair to Trump whenever you criticize him, you do it constructively. I don’t take cheap shots and I didn’t do it to Barack Obama. I held Trump’s feet to the fire about the birther business because after an investigation we knew it wasn’t true. 

• The Salvation Army is a silent provider for relief in disasters like Hurricane Harvey. They set up kitchens to feed those affected. Another good charity is Glenn Beck’s Mercury One (Mercuryone.org) and Franklin Graham’s charity, Samaritan’s Purse (Samaritanspurse.org). 

• Bill, just finished “Killing Reagan” and I’ve also read “Killing Lincoln” and “Killing the Rising Sun” and I agree that the kids’ versions of your history books are appropriate for young children, but I wouldn’t suggest they read Killing Reagan due the adult language. OK, but that is why we have “The Day the President was shot” which is the kids book of “Killing Reagan”. The Killing books are too intense for kids that is why we put out the children’s versions. 

• In honor of back to school all children’s books are 50% off! 

• Killing England out Sept. 19^th! Next week I’ll be speaking to Breitbart about the book and how it affects the statue controversy.

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