Beltway Insider: Trump Takes on Biden, Synagogue Shooting, Sri Lanka, Colorado Pile-up, Election 2020

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President Trump, bolstered by the strong showing of the GDP, continues to swat away each of the potential 2020 presidential candidates counting them as insignificant believing the economy will become the number one campaign issue.

According to Gallup, President Trump's job approval, which was tracked for the month of March ending on April 9, 2019 increased six percentage points to 45% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President decreased by six percentage points to 51%. Ratings are calculated monthly.

Trump Takes on Biden

Former Vice President Joe Biden finally declared his candidacy for the 2020 Presidential nomination and was immediately taunted by President Trump on his intelligence and mental effectiveness.

"Welcome to the race sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty – you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the starting Gate," the president said via twitter. @realDonaldTrump


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Biden made his expected announcement using a collage of great, challenging, moments that made us fundamentally better as a nation, even though they were hard won moments, great battles for dignity, equality, against tyranny and ideologies. Explaining "everything that made us fundamentally better as a nation is at stake."

One Dead in San Diego Synagogue Shooting

One person died and four others were injured Saturday when a gunman carrying a high-powered automatic rifle, entered the Chabad of Poway Synagogue and began shooting.

Before the 19-year-old shooter had a chance to reenact his fantasies of mass carnage, his rifle jammed, an off-duty border guard shouted his voice echoing with the sound of incoming army, and a lone woman gave her life.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, said the women, Lori-Gilbert Kaye, death was not in vain. That her death personified anti-Semitism. The Rabbi lost a finger and three others, including a child suffered gunshots. The shooting occurred six months to the day of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed eleven.

The manifesto of the shooter criticized Jews and celebrated the slaying of the Muslims in New Zealand. The suicide bombers in Sri Lanka believed the world is meant for only Muslims and those who believe in any other religion must be killed. The KKK believe only Whites should inherit the earth; Farrakhan believed Whites are the devils.

Unfortunately to label the shooting Anti-Semitic and a persecution of the Jewish people is a narrow view of a larger, global, problem of intolerance.

What does one say to the worshipers in a mosque in New Zealand where a shooter enters during prayers and leaves 50 died? It wasn't Antisemitism that killed those men and women it was intolerance. Or 50 dead attending a concert in Las Vegas; or 11 at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh; or 17 students in Parkland, Florida; or 26 in Sulphur Springs church in Texas; or nine at a Charleston, S.C. church, or 26 at Sandy Hook, or those killed at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, or a High School in Kentucky, in Colorado, or Virginia Tech., or a factory in Chicago, a business, a theater, an office. We can find a key demographic in each of these shootings that fill of void of "Why" and it is always intolerance, obvious or hidden as well as mental illness.

The persecution isn't religious. Religious institutions are soft targets, where those who hate, not simply hatred of the Jews, the hate is a seething uncontrollable rage at different, a seething intolerance. It is a belief that one demographic has dominance and is responsibility for the lack found in the life of the hater.


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Sri Lanka Reacts Too Late, ISIS Resurfaces and Overwhelming Sadness

The Islamic State, believed to be disbanded and defeated claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday slaughter, which killed 250 and injured more than 600, and now one week later definitive proof linking the terror group has emerged.

As locals have continued to bury their dead, Police have focused on finding every person involved. With 18 suspects in custody, a tip led authorities to a storage facility filled with bomb making materials, including C4 explosives, ball bearings, ISIS flags and uniforms.

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the outrageous terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka that have claimed so many precious lives on this Easter Sunday. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the more than 200 killed and hundreds of others wounded. We stand with the Sri Lankan government and people as they bring to justice the perpetrators of these despicable and senseless acts," the White House said in a statement released one day late.

Over the course of this past week, CCTV footage of one of the suicide bombers calmly entering one of the three luxury hotels targeted, waiting patiently in line for his room key, entering the room, and exiting the next morning, allowing guests to exit the elevator first, walking into the crowded restaurant where many families were celebrating Easter Brunch and in a moment the camera shows a bright orange fireball, billowing black smoke, broken glass and debris.

Making sense of the violence, especially as reports have indicated two of the bombers were sons, heirs, of a wealthy Spice tycoon, Mohamed Ibrahim. The violence didn't end as they ended their own lives.

"Those who knew the Ibrahim family are in disbelief. "They were polished," said one businessman whose sons played with the Ibrahims when they were boys. "They didn't look as if they were radical. I can't imagine that they would do something like this." Now their father, Mohammed Ibrahim – an intimate of senior Sri Lankan politicians – is in police custody and his home a crime scene. The building is wrapped in yellow police tape after Inshaf's pregnant wife detonated her explosives killing herself, her children and the police officers who had come to search the house," The Irish Times reported.

While many believe a new terror group is rising, the National Thowheeth Jama'ath, local to Sri Lanka, is connected to ISIS. Abbreviated with the acronym NTJ, the group who uses the same style black flag as ISIS and subscribes to the same religious ideology denouncing all other religions except Muslim.

"NTJ was first made known to the Sri Lankan police force when a police officer sent an announcement to the authorities warning about a possible attack on churches 10 days before the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings on 21 April 2019. The report read that "the NTJ is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo."[26] Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe, remarked that government officials did not receive the advisory and that they would "look into why adequate precautions were not taken."[14]," Wikipedia reported.


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On April 27, police surrounded a safe house of NJT. Sixteen people, including six children were killed in the raid. Three suicide bombers who were cornered detonated their "life vests" and killed themselves.

The Business of Death

The flurry of judicial activity post bombings is of little condolence to the people of this island nation. The business of death has now taken over, as loved ones are hoping to find the missing comatose in a hospital unable to identify themselves.

The Shangri-La Hotels issued the following statement confirming an "explosion took place in Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo's Table One Restaurant on Easter Sunday during Easter Brunch at 9.05 am. As reported on eTurboNews on Sunday the veteran chef was killed with her daughter."

Three other colleagues of the hotel were also killed. The hotel is closed until April 30 and possibly until further notice.

"Our immediate priority continues to be the safety and well-being of all affected. We have also proactively carried out the following measures since the attacks in Colombo: We will continue to provide alternative accommodation for our affected guests. Our team has been assisting with guest requests for transportation and flight arrangements. We also have staff stationed at the airport and at the hospitals to render assistance where needed. Our hotel team remains ready to offer any other assistance to our guests and their families and to provide the necessary support to our colleagues and their next of kin during this very difficult time," the statement read.

A dedicated Call Helpline (+603 2025 4619) has been set up for affected guests and/or their loved ones. We are working closely with relevant embassy officials to support their respective citizens.

One man summed up the mood of the nation saying, "not since the war have we been this sad."

Four Dead in Massive Colorado Pile-up Inferno - Accident or Act of Terror?

An out of control semi-tractor trailer, with speeds topping 70mph, barreled down a hill on Interstate 70W, in Lakewood, Colorado, smashing into slowed traffic killing four and injuring six before a diesel spill triggered a massive explosion.

"The carnage was unbelievable," Lakewood police spokesman Ty Countryman said.

Colorado police have yet to release any information indicating Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 23,of Texas,made emergency calls or any type of CB radio transmissions indicating he was experiencing brake failure and was unable to stop his fully loaded 18-wheeler.

Video supplied by a local driver, Josh McCutcheon, who was streaming at the time, show the out of control tractor-trailer speeding through slowed traffic on the shoulder causing the driver to exclaim, "Oh My God" understanding how close he came to death.

Investigators have not issued any definitive proof that support the driver's explanation of brake failure. Including evidence of both the brake system and the emergency brake which may not have stopped the crash but deployed and notification the impact of the crash would have been lessened.


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That is of course if the brake failure story is actual and not another act of domestic terror against American citizens. Mederos has a green card and is in the country legally the Lakewood spokesperson said.

It wouldn't be the first truck used in terror attacks on American soil (at OSU, in New York City) and clearly trucks have been used to create mass carnage internationally in Nice, France, where 84 were killed, in Barcelona, Spain, where a ramming attack killed 14, at the German Christmas market where more than a dozen lost their lives.

Election 2020

The 2020 US Presidential race took a full tilt turn this week, ramping up the rhetoric and messaging as if it were the primary season, instead of nine months before the beginning of the actual culling season.

As expected, former Vice president, Joe Biden, a career politician and public servant, announced his candidacy for the Presidency with a scathing and ominous attack on the current administration.

His words, "We are in a battle for the very soul of this nation," in reality are not that far from the truth. The oddity is that both parties project the same mindset. It will be up to the people to decode which candidacy best interprets what universally is believed to be the soul of the nation.

Biden, who needs no introduction, has been close enough to the Oval office and was also regulated by former President Barack Obama to handle issues that continue to be hot button. His eight years of experience as Vice President cap an illustrious career of public service.


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The very crowded candidate pool is nearly like 31 flavors, there is something for everyone. This year before the primary season begins is the opportunity for the people to get to know each of the candidate. This issue is, of course, while one may be likable doesn't necessarily translate to the ability to secure the vote necessary to unseat this administration.

Dissecting the 2016 race, which unfortunately is necessary in order to secure a win in 2020. Ms. Clinton, received the popular vote, earning many more votes than the current administration. Because the United States operates on an Electoral College system, the strategy is to secure the majority votes and concentrate on the swing states. Counting California or other democratic strongholds as victories, even as they add to the total, in reality create a margin that leads to potential failure and clear error.

As the democratic party begins the whittling process, the debates within the party are the platform for presidential, stately, dignified.

As we move ahead into the actual primary season, the one sure thing is the race will get dirty. Trump is a mud wrestler and attempts to restore dignity to the race are best served after he is defeated. What it will take to defeat him is a candidate who is not concerned about swinging back, not following the rules, breaking into his platform rhetoric with "nasty man" comments and not being the presidential pillar; dignified, honorable, and proper. That won't win the White House. Fight hard, fight dirty, he will.

Census 2020 California Count

2020 also marks the year of the census, the numerical count of the population that occurs every ten years in America. The census provides information that effects every area of life in the United States, it determines the redistricting of neighborhoods, it adds or subtracts representation in Washington, and determines funding.

Over the next year additional messaging from #Census2020 will be seen throughout the United States as the agency gears up for its largest count in history of Census taking.

California is gearing up to ensure every person is counted. Messaging will begin to appear encouraging all to participate. It's fast, easy and important. The exactness of the Census ensures increased representation in Washington, federal funding, more monies for schools and local communities.

For more information on President Donald Trump: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Wikipedia.com