Muslim Brotherhood has operated in US since 1962 with ultimate goal of creating a Muslim state in America-Chicago Tribune, 9/19/2004, "A rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America"

Chicago Tribune: In 1962 the Muslim Brotherhood began operations in the US: "1962: The Cultural Society is created as the first Brotherhood organization in the United States. Society members help establish numerous Islamic organizations, mosques and schools." 

9/19/2004, "A rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America," Chicago Tribune, Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe and Laurie Cohen, Tribune staff reporters 

"Over the last 40 years [since 1960s], small groups of devout Muslim men have gathered in homes in U.S. cities to pray, memorize the Koran and discuss events of the day. 

But they also addressed their ultimate goal, one so controversial that it is a key reason they have operated in secrecy: to create Muslim states overseas and, they hope, someday in America as well. 

These men are part of an underground U.S. chapter of the international Muslim Brotherhood, the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group and an organization with a violent past in the Middle East. But fearing persecution, they rarely identify themselves as Brotherhood members and have operated largely behind the scenes, unbeknown even to many Muslims.

Still, the U.S. Brotherhood has had a significant and ongoing impact on Islam in America, helping establish mosques, Islamic schools, summer youth camps and prominent Muslim organizations. It is a major factor, Islamic scholars say, in why many Muslim institutions in the nation have become more conservative in recent decades....

In recent years, the U.S. (Muslim) Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews. One of the nation's major Islamic groups, it was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members.

Some wanted the Brotherhood to remain underground, while others thought a more public face would make the group more influential. Members from across the country drove to regional meeting sites to discuss the issue.

Former member Mustafa Saied recalls how he gathered with 40 others at a Days Inn on the Alabama-Tennessee border. Many members, he says, preferred secrecy, particularly in case U.S. authorities cracked down on Hamas supporters, including many Brotherhood members.... 

When the leaders voted, it was decided that Brotherhood members would call themselves the Muslim American Society, or MAS, according to documents and interviews. 

They agreed not to refer to themselves as the Brotherhood but to be more publicly active. They eventually created a Web site and for the first time invited the public to some conferences, which also were used to raise money....An undated internal memo instructed MAS leaders on how to deal with inquiries about the new organization. If asked, "Are you the Muslim Brothers?" leaders should respond that they are an independent group called the Muslim American Society. "It is a self-explanatory name that does not need further explanation." 

And if the topic of terrorism were raised, leaders were told to say that they were against terrorism but that jihad was among a Muslim's "divine legal rights" to be used to defend himself and his people and to spread Islam. 

But MAS leaders say those documents and others obtained by the Tribune are either outdated or do not accurately reflect the views of the group's leaders. 

MAS describes itself as a "charitable, religious, social, cultural and educational not-for-profit organization." It has headquarters in Alexandria, Va., and 53 chapters nationwide, including one in Bridgeview, across the street from the mosque there.... 

MAS collected $2.8 million in dues and donations in 2003--more than 10 times the amount in 1997, according to Internal Revenue Service filings. 

Spending often is aimed at schools, teachers and children, the filings show. The group has conducted teacher training programs, issued curriculum guides and established youth centers. It also set up Islamic American University, largely a correspondence school with an office in suburban Detroit, to train teachers and preachers. 

Until 18 months ago, the university's chairman was Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent cleric in Qatar and a spiritual figure of the Brotherhood who has angered many in the West by praising suicide bombers in Israel and Iraq. The U.S. government has barred him from entering the country since late 1999. He says that action was taken after he praised Palestinian militants. 

In the Chicago area, MAS has sponsored summer camps for teenagers. Shahzeen Karim, 19, says a camp in Bridgeview inspired her to resume covering her hair in the Islamic tradition. 

"We were praying five times a day," Karim says. "It was like a proper Islamic environment. It brought me back to Islam." 

At a summer camp last year in Wisconsin run by the Chicago chapter of MAS, teens received a 2-inch-thick packet of material that included a discussion of the Brotherhood's philosophy and detailed instructions on how to win converts. 

Part of the Chicago chapter's Web site is devoted to teens. It includes reading materials that say Muslims have a duty to help form Islamic governments worldwide and should be prepared to take up arms to do so. 

One passage states that "until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful." Another one says that Western secularism and materialism are evil and that Muslims should "pursue this evil force to its own lands" and "invade its Western heartland."...

Brotherhood has grown in influence

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt more than seven decades ago, is among the most powerful political forces in the Islamic world today.

1928: The Muslim Brotherhood is formed in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna to promote a return to fundamental Islamic beliefs and practices and to fight Western colonialism in the Islamic world.

Late 1930s: The Brotherhood starts forming affiliated chapters in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.

1948: The Brotherhood is implicated in the assassination of Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Nuqrashi, who had banned the group. Al-Banna denies involvement.

1949: The Egyptian government retaliates for Nuqrashi's assassination by killing al-Banna.

1954: A Brotherhood member tries to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and fails. Nasser executes several of the group's leaders and incarcerates thousands of its followers.

1962: The Cultural Society is created as the first Brotherhood organization in the United States. Society members help establish numerous Islamic organizations, mosques and schools.

1966: Sayyid Qutb, a Brotherhood ideologue who urged Muslims to take up arms against non-Islamic governments, is executed by Nasser's regime.

1982: In Hamah, Syria, at least 10,000 people are killed by government troops suppressing an uprising by the Brotherhood.

1993: The Muslim American Society, initially based in Illinois and now in Virginia, is created to be a more public face of the Brotherhood in the U.S.

2001: The U.S. names Brotherhood member Youssef Nada and his Swiss based investment network, allegedly established with backing from the Brotherhood, as terrorist financiers. Nada denies any terrorist links.

2002: Tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters fill the streets of Cairo during a funeral for group leader Mustafa Mashhour on Nov. 15. 

2003: U.S. authorities investigating alleged terrorism funding describe Virginia businessman Soliman Biheiri as the Brotherhood's "financial toehold" in the U.S. Biheiri denies any terrorist links.

2004: The Egyptian government rounds up dozens of Brotherhood supporters, freezes members' assets and ousts one of its backers from parliament."

"Tribune foreign correspondent Evan Osnos, staff reporter Stephen Franklin and Hossam el-Hamalawy contributed to this report."  

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CNN's Blitzer accurately observes that US weapons industry is first a jobs program. US less concerned whom it sells to or for what purpose, continues to sell lethal weapons to Saudi Arabia for its use against Yemen, sells to all sides of various Mid East wars thus making everything worse and creating refugees-CNN transcript, Wolf Blitzer and Sen. Rand Paul, Sept. 8, 2016

Sept. 8, 2016, CNN transcript: "Trump, Clinton Talk National Security; Trump's Plan to Defeat ISIS; Clinton Promises No Ground Troops in Syria, Iraq Ever Again; Lawmakers Looking to Stall Planned Sale of Arms, Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia. Aired 1:30-2p ET, Aired September 8, 2016 - 13:30 ET"

'THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED."

In following segment in Sept. 2016, Wolf Blitzer speaks with Senator Rand Paul about Obama administration sales of lethal weapons to Saudi Arabia which it uses to wage war on Yemen. (Trump administration is no different, weapons industry doing fine with him).

"BLITZER: For you, this is a moral issue because you know there are a lot of jobs at stake, certainly, if these defense contractors stop selling warplanes, other sophisticated equipment to Saudi Arabia. There is going to be a significant loss of jobs, revenue here in the United States. That's secondary from your standpoint. 

PAUL: Well, not only is it a moral question, it is a constitutional question....Saudi Arabia chose to get involved in a civil war and take sides on a civil war. We've now given $100 billion worth of arms under President Obama to Saudi Arabia. We've approved $100 billion worth of sales of arms. We also approved billions of dollars to be released to Iran. So we're supplying the arms on both sides of this arms race in the Middle East. We supplied Turkey with tanks that are now rolling in to Syria. And we have Kurdish troops using American arms to fight Turkish arms, which are supplied by the U.S. as well. So I think we do need to rethink whether or not this is making the situation better or worse.

There are now millions of displaced people in Yemen. They're refugees. So we supply the Saudis with arms, they create havoc and refugees in Yemen. Then what's the answer? Then we're going to take the Yemeni refugees in the United States? Maybe we ought to quit arming both sides of this war.... 

BLITZER: So you are opposed to the continued use of this military equipment to Saudi Arabia. How can you stop it? Are you planning to introduce legislation to stop or delay it?

PAUL: We have a privileged resolution, which means it will demand a vote, and a vote will occur because of the law. The Arms Export Control Act of 1970s gives the right of any one Senator to demand a vote on this. The Arms Export Control Act also says that we can only export arms that are solely for the legitimate defense of a country. Well, they're using these arms to have an incursion into a neighboring country and get involved in a neighboring country's civil war. But this is not self-defense of Saudi Arabia. So I think they're in breach of the original Arms Export Control Act.

But I also think that we should have a say. That Congress and the people should vote on whether we are in the middle of another war in the Middle East.

[13:55:30] BLITZER: Some of these Yemeni fighters that the Saudis are fighting together with the UAE and other countries, they are actually in Saudi Arabia. They've taken over some parts of southern Saudi Arabia. So wouldn't that justify the Saudis moving against them the way they are?

PAUL: Well, the Saudis invaded Yemen, and the Yemen rebels invaded back. But I don't think this was something where the Saudis were trying to stop an invasion. The Saudis actually invaded and started bombing in the capitol of Yemen."...

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Added:

Obama outside of "norms:" "Obama has brokered more arms deals than any administration since World War II." But it's OK-US weaponizing the world was "instead of" US putting boots on the ground everywhere. "Not included in the 2016 totals are fighter jets deals with Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, which are expected to top $7 billion."

Nov. 8, 2016, "Obama’s Final Arms-Export Tally More than Doubles Bush’s," defenseone.com, Marcus Weisgerber, Caroline Houck

 

"The Obama administration has approved more than $278 billion in foreign arms sales in its eight years, more than double the total of the previous administration [$128.6 billion], according to figures released by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Many of the approved deals-most but hardly all of which have become actual sales-have been to Mideast nations....

Saudi Arabia has been the largest recipient, reaping prospective deals worth more than $115 billion, according to notices announcing the deals that were sent to Congress for approval.

“Nobody even comes close” for the number of deals and total value, said William Hartung, director of the Arms Security Project at the Center for International Policy.

Among the weapons approved for Riyadh: F-15 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, Blackhawk utility helicopters, missile interceptors, armored vehicles and bombs and missiles.

But Hartung noted that only about half of those approvals have so far resulted in actual contracts. For instance, the administration approved an $11.25 billion sale of four Lockheed Martin Multi-Mission Surface Combatants last year, but the Saudis have yet to place an order for the warships....

These estimated totals are compiled for each U.S. fiscal year, which runs from October through September, and often change as new data comes in. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency — the arm of the Pentagon that handles foreign sales — updates its data each year based on individual sales, so its figures often fluctuate from year to year.

Not included in the 2016 totals are fighter jets deals with Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, which are expected to top $7 billion. The administration has approved those deals and is expected to publicly release them later in the year, meaning they will count toward 2017 arms sales figures.

How does the Obama administration compare to its predecessors? Earlier this year, Hartung did the math: Obama has brokered more arms deals than any administration since World War II. For immediate comparison, the George W. Bush administration approved $128.6 billion in arms export between 2001 and 2008." Above graph from defenseone

• "Marcus Weisgerber is the global business editor for Defense One, where he writes about the intersection of business and national security. He has been covering defense and national security issues for more than a decade, previously as Pentagon correspondent for Defense News and chief editor of ... Full bio
• Caroline Houck is a staff correspondent at Defense One. She previously was an Atlantic Media fellow. Full bio"

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Added: The anti-war movement for 8 years during Bush was a giant fake:

March/April 2016, "The Obama Years Have Been Very Good to America’s Weapons Makers," Mother Jones, Brian Schatz 

"The United States has approved $200 billion in international arms deals since 2009." 

"Some of the factors driving the surge in American exports include a shift toward arming allies instead of putting American boots on the ground, regional threats from ISIS and Al Qaeda, and Obama’s 2013 decision to relax arms export rules, a move supported with an estimated $170 million in lobbying by the defense industry. In the past week, the Obama administration announced it was considering expanding weapons sales to Vietnam and easing an arms embargo on Libya."...


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Attendance at Trump rally in Macomb County, Michigan, 4/28/18: 5500 inside, 5000 outside. Fire officials cut off entry at 5500, "leaving an estimated 5000 people outside to watch the rally on a giant tv monitor." "We have always been known as land of the Reagan Democrats, but right now we are known as Trump Country"-Macomb Daily

"Approximately 5,500 people were inside the new 118,000-square-foot sports building when Washington Township Fire officials cut off further entry, leaving an estimated 5,000 people outside to watch the rally on a giant television monitor."





















Above, 4/28/18, "Thousands of Trump supporters gather for rally in Washington Township," Mlive, You Tube (preceded by ad which you can skip)

Above, 4/28/2018, "President Trump welcomed by ‘old friends' in Macomb County, " Macomb Daily, Mitch Hotts
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Above, 4/28/18, "President Trump's visit to Michigan: From left, Michael Sakowski, 14, Matthew Sakowski, 12, Dylan King, 13, Evan Sakowski, 9, and Bryce King, 13, all of Macomb Township, pose for a photo during President Donald J. Trump's Make America Great Again rally at Total Sports Park in Washington Township, Saturday, April 28, 2018." Detroit Free Press photo
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Below: Attendee who waited in line 4 hours:

Source: 4/28/18, "President Trump MAGA Rally – Washington, Michigan 7:00pm Livestream," tcth,

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4/28/18, "Trump rally fires up crowd in Washington Township," MacombDaily.com, Norb Franz

"President Donald Trump called on thousands of enthusiastic supporters during a spirited rally Saturday night in Washington Township to work to get Republicans elected in the mid-term elections. Touting tax reform, low unemployment, tougher trade policy, reductions in regulations and demanding stronger border security, Trump delighted the audience who shouted their satisfaction and encouragement throughout his 80-minute speech.... 

Approximately 5,500 people were inside the new 118,000-square-foot sports building when Washington Township Fire officials cut off further entry, leaving an estimated 5,000 people outside to watch the rally on a giant television monitor.

Trump halted his speech for about five minutes and called for a doctor when one person inside suffered a medical issue. Township Fire Chief Brian Tyrell reported about 10 people needed medical assistance at the complex at 30 Mile and Powell roads just east of M-53 but none were serious enough to require transport to a hospital.... 

On infrastructure, the president unexpectedly promised repairs will be made to the Soo Locks in the Upper Peninsula.

“The Soo Locks are going to hell, you know that, right? We’re going to get them fixed up.”...

The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office reported no problems Saturday resulting in arrests. 

Trump’s visit to the township, in northern Macomb County, was his first to the county since his election victory in November 2016. He held two campaign rallies in the county in 2016 – one during the Republican primary campaign and the other, at Freedom Hill Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights attended by about 20,000 people, just two days before the November election.

Macomb County, long known as the land of the Reagan Democrats, helped propel Trump to victory in Michigan and the White House in the 2016 Election against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump defeated Clinton in Macomb County, 53.6 percent to 42.1 percent.

The difference in votes was 48,348 – more than three times the amount of his statewide, 13,478-vote margin. Trump beat Clinton in 19 or 24 cities and townships in the county (votes cast by residents in the villages of Armada, New Haven and Romeo are tabulated with neighboring communities).

Most municipalities in the northern half of Macomb County are Republican strongholds, and GOP dominance in elected offices down to township boards. 

Before Trump took to the podium, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner and former Congresswoman Candice Miller was the first speaker and fired up the partisan crowd, leading the crowd in the first “make America great again” shout. 

“We have always been known as land of the Reagan Democrats, but right now we are known as Trump Country,” Miller said, drawing a roar of approval.... 

Brian Tinnion, one of the partners at Total Sports Complex, said the first rally attendees began arriving at approximately 9 a.m. By 10 a.m., about 500 were in line – six hours before the doors were scheduled to open to the public. The crowd doubled by noon and continued to swell. 

“A sea of people,” he said about 90 minutes before Trump was scheduled to appear. “It’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.” 

Once people cleared security before entering the sports facility, the line to reach the portable restrooms outside was approximately 30 minutes. 

Rose Ramirez, her husband and their three children drove from Grand Rapids to attend the rally, said they arrived around 12:30 p.m.

“I just wanted the experience of being here,” she said while relaxing as the couple’s three kids – ages 15, 12 and 10 – wore new “American Dreamer” caps purchased at the rally."

"The Associated Press contributed to this report."

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Added:

"The parking lot quickly filled up as some parked a couple of miles away from the site and walked along dirt roads to get to the event." 

4/28/2018, "President Trump welcomed by ‘old friends' in Macomb County, " Macomb Daily, Mitch Hotts 

"A seemingly never-ending line of supporters turned out on a windy, cloudy Saturday to attend a campaign-style political rally in northern Macomb County featuring President Donald Trump. 

Many wore the familiar red baseball caps with white trim emblazoned with the slogan “Make America Great Again,” as they waited to get inside the rally at Total Sports Park in Washington Township. 

“This turnout says to me that people are happy he’s our president and that they believe in him,” said Robert Golembiewski of Petoskey, Mich. “He’s making our country safe, creating better incomes and doing what’s right for the people.”

Those waiting listened to the music of Kid Rock, Lee Greenwood and Aerosmith being played over the loudspeakers, but the conversations centered on Trump and what they said were his victories on Capitol Hill.

Ed and Racheal Schoendorff of Manchester, Mich., gave the president high marks for his time in the White House so far. 

“Considering the uphill battles he’s faced, considering all the drama and considering everything that’s stood in his way, and the fact that he continues to get things done, with tax reform and the Korean situation, and taking care of veterans, I feel he’s doing pretty well,” Schoendorff said.

His wife agreed.

“We can now say Merry Christmas to each other again,” she said.

“We are trying to get rid of all of this political correctness so that people can be real people again. I feel he’s doing a fabulous job.” 

The parking lot quickly filled up as some parked a couple of miles away from the site and walked along dirt roads to get to the event. 

The crowd’s enthusiasm level was reminiscent of similar events when Trump was a presidential candidate in 2016.

“He’s like a rock star -- he’s fulfilling promises he made as a candidate,” said Arnold Molten of Port Huron. “It’s good to see him, he’s like an old friend of ours.”

Total Sports Park on Powell Road between 30 Mile and 31 Mile roads was already packed with several thousand people as even more waited outside hoping to get in. Others stood in front of a Jumbotron video screen, where they planned to watch the president speak. 

One Macomb County Sheriff’s Office official, who did not want to be named, said “we’ve worked rock concerts with Santana and big-name entertainers, but we’ve never seen these numbers of people.”"...
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4/28/18, "MASSIVE Crowd Seen at Trump MAGA Rally in Washington, Michigan April 28, 2018," Live Satellite News, You Tube

 
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Added: Saginaw, Michigan turned to Trump-BBC

1/28/18, "The Paul Simon city that turned to Trump," BBC News, Owen Amos, Saginaw, Michigan

Saginaw River

"Saginaw - a blue-collar city made famous by Paul Simon - surprisingly voted for Donald Trump in 2016. What do they think now?

It's January in Michigan, and Thomas Darabos is walking on water. 

He finds a spot, carves a hole in the ice, and sits on a bucket. Then he waits for a bite. 

He and 10 others are fishing on the Saginaw River. Their frozen breath hangs in the air. 

Tall, smoky chimneys used to line the water. Now, naked trees form silhouettes against the blank sky. 

"We had all kinds of industry, but everything's gone," says Darabos. 

"They've got a couple of factories here and there, but it's not like when I was a kid.

"Business was booming in Saginaw. Now it's dead."

The 52-year-old was a labourer before injuring his back and shoulder. In 2016, after a lifetime of voting Democrat, he turned to Donald Trump

.
How does he feel now? "He's creating jobs," he says.

"He's bringing money from different countries back to the United States. I think that's a good thing."

A few yards away, Gerald Welzin lifts his line from the water and nods. Like Darabos, he voted Republican for the first time in 2016.

"I think he's doing a great job," says the 61-year-old landscaper.

"A lot of people criticise him, badmouth him, say a lot of bad things about him. But you've got to give the man a chance."

On the river bank, a lyric has been sprayed on a huge, concrete bridge support.

"It took me four days to hitch-hike from Saginaw," it says. "I've gone to look for America."

The line is from America, a Simon and Garfunkel song about young love, adventure and optimism. According to a local promoter, Paul Simon wrote it in Saginaw in 1966. 

If he came back now, he may not recognise the place.

For decades, Saginaw was a General Motors city. In 1979, the manufacturer employed 26,100 people here.

Now, just one GM facility remains, employing fewer than 500 people (a former GM plant, run by the Chinese firm Nexteer, employs around 5,000 more).

When the jobs went, the people followed. In 1960, almost 100,000 people lived in Saginaw. Now it's fewer than half that.

The population of Saginaw County has also declined, though less sharply.

As a working-class city, Saginaw supported Democrats. From 1988 to 2012, the county voted blue. 

More widely, Michigan was part of the so-called "blue wall" of solid Democrat states. And then, in 2016, Donald Trump came along.

Mr Trump's victory in Saginaw County was narrow - he won just 1,074 more votes than Hilary Clinton - but notable.

County by county, brick by brick, the blue wall came down. For the first time since 1988, Michigan voted Republican.

One year on, Trump supporters are not hard to find in Saginaw. 

In the city centre, there's a workshop in an empty car park. On one wall - in view of the Democrats' office - is a Trump sign.

Rick Coombs, 32, put it there before the election. "What I really, really liked, was the same thing people dislike about him," he says.

"He's not the most politically correct person, and I'm 100% fine with that."

Coombs, born and raised in Saginaw, owns three businesses, including a gun shop called Reaction Armory.

The Trump sign has been defaced and his companies targeted online. "False accusations, cheesy little Trump comments, poor ratings, things like that," says Coombs. 

(He is not alone - in August, a Republican event at a Saginaw pizzeria was cancelled after the business was threatened).

Coombs, though, will not take his sign down.

"One hundred per cent, I'm keeping it up," he says. "You're not going to scare me out of here. That's just not going to happen."

Coombs gives President Trump a "solid eight" (out of 10) for his first year in office. "Look at the numbers, look at the GDP," he says. 

He's disappointed the healthcare bill failed, but hopes tax cuts, passed before Christmas, will benefit his businesses. He also thinks the president is unfairly criticised.

"Here's the problem I really have with the left," he says.

"Every president - I mean every president - is easy to make fun of. No matter what he does, they will be against it, simply because it's Trump. 

"They're still sore losers. They're still salty about the situation."

Darryl Wimbley knows he's not a typical Trump supporter.

Darryl (l) made 1000+ calls for Trump

The 49-year-old was born in Alabama to a black mother and Arabic father [growing up, his father spoke to him only in Arabic]. He moved to Saginaw with his mother aged three.

"Back then, to have a baby out of wedlock was unacceptable," he says. "They would send you north."

He spent 20 years as car salesman - "I said I'd do it for two months and I made ten grand" - but had to stop after a motorcycle accident.

In 2008, he voted for Barack Obama. But he has an admission.

"The most racist thing I ever did," he says.

"I didn't care what his views were. I didn't care. He was black, and that was it. I didn't question it."

After Obama came to office, he did question it, voting Republican for the first time in 2012. And, when Donald Trump became a candidate, he listened. 

"He said a lot of things that I thought, but would never say in public," he says. 

Such as?

"Illegal immigrants do cause a lot of crime," he replies.

"I lived in Chicago, I know what immigrants do. I understand MS-13 (a mainly Central American gang), I understand the Latin Kings, I understand Maniac Disciples.

"I've seen it first hand, and most of them are illegals."

After telling his family he supported Mr Trump, his sister and mother stopped speaking to him. Some black people, he says, called him an "Uncle Tom, a sell-out".

But he still supports the president.

"The tax bill I like, the jobs are coming back, we're getting rid of regulation," he says. "A big thing is coal mines for me, because my family are coal miners."

And, like Rick Coombs, he thinks Mr Trump is treated unfairly.

"If you are the person in a room who everyone hates, you could actually give someone a million dollars - and they'll complain you didn't wrap it right."

Saginaw is a sprawling, un-pretty city.

Unloved, unneeded homes have been razed. Buildings - such as the red-brick railway station, closed since 1986 - lie derelict. And graffiti is common.

There are, however, signs of life. 

The old Bancroft Hotel is now home to "luxury" apartments, a coffee shop, and a cocktail bar. Twenty-four brownstone homes have gone up by the river.

There are boutiques, craft breweries, and murals on street corners. 

One piece of graffiti that used to say "Saginasty" now reads "Saginawesome".

Jim Hines, a 62-year-old doctor who lives in Saginaw, thinks the city's future is "bright".

Dr Hines has delivered thousands of babies, owns a medical practice, and spent four years in the Central African Republic, running two hospitals.

He has seven sons, 12 grandchildren, and a third-degree black belt in taekwondo.

He also rides a Harley, has flown planes since he was 16, and - if that's not enough - wants to become the next governor of Michigan.

Dr Hines grew up in a poor family in Warsaw, Indiana - he met his wife, Martha, in the pizza place where he washed dishes - and is a long-time Republican.

The party will choose their candidate in August, before the state-wide election in November.

He says he is an underdog - early polling suggests the same - but he takes inspiration from another underdog, now sitting in the White House.

"I'm not bashful in my support of Donald Trump," he says.

"Am I going out campaigning saying 'Hey, I'm Trump-like, vote for me?' No. 

"But I am an outsider, I am a businessman, I want to put people first."

Dr Hines, a Christian, is not put off by the president's crudeness - 

"It's not how I would express myself, but I think he speaks from his heart" - or his tough line on immigration.

"To have a sovereign country you need borders," he says. 

"Immigration - great. But not illegal immigration."

He supports the wall on the Mexican border, and thinks Mr Trump's policies - especially the tax cuts - have rejuvenated Saginaw.

"I think there's a lot of optimism," he says. "There wasn't so much before Trump. It was like 'Saginaw is kind of dwindling away'."

In Tony's Original Restaurant - a cosy, old-fashioned diner - a group of Dr Hines' supporters has come to meet the media (a local TV station is also here).

They are anti-abortion, low-tax people. Judy Anderson, a 73-year-old retired nurse, "had to study and think" before voting for Mr Trump.

But, one year on, she is proud of what he's done - even if she doesn't like his tweets.

"The companies being taxed less are rewarding their employees, left and right," she says. "And that's a positive thing."

On the next table, Sue Lynn, 63, also admires the president. But her language is more colourful; more Trump-like.

"If you've got an infestation of rats, you call the guy to come in," she says.

"You don't care if his crack's showing. You don't care if he's swearing. 

"You don't care if he's got tobacco-stained teeth.

"You want the rats taken out.""...images from BBC




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Convicted felon George Soros launches "fact check" service in UK to be provided first to media for global fight against Fake News, will help "journalists" "push back" against politicians at press conferences-UK Guardian, 8/9/2017...Equally compassionate Mozilla and its browser Firefox start fact check service to ease our "mental burden" when, for example, choosing a US president

8/9/2017, "Firefox browser maker Mozilla is taking on fake news," UK.business insider.com, C. Cakebread...Mozilla is motivated by compassion. It kindly seeks to lessen the "mental burden" on us when faced with deciding whom should be US president: "The company's researchers examined the news consumption habits of a subset of Firefox users-with their permission-during the period leading up to and after the 2016 election." 

Soros convicted felon citation: 6/14/2006, "Soros’ Insider-Trading Conviction Upheld," NY Times Dealbook
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August 2017 article:

Aug. 8, 2017, "Journalists to use 'immune system' software against fake news," UK Guardian, Robert Booth

"Full Fact software backed by George Soros and Pierre Omidyar fact-checks statements in parliament and news media in real time."

"Broadcast, print and online journalists are to beginning using an automated fact-checking system that quickly alerts them to false claims made in the press, on TV and in parliament.

An early version of the system, dubbed the “bullshit detector” by its creators, will be rolled out for testing from October as part of a global fightback against fake news.

It is being developed by researchers at the Full Fact organisation in London with $500,000 (£380,000) of funding from charitable foundations backed by two billionaires: the Hungarian-born investor George Soros, and the Iranian-American eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

The software, which was demonstrated to the Guardian, scans statements as they are made by politicians and instantly provides a verdict on their veracity. An early version relies on a database of several thousand manual fact-checks, but later versions will automatically access official data to inform the verdict. The researchers are co-operating with the Office of National Statistics on the project.

The Full Fact program will be first tested in the UK but will also be deployed in South America and Africa, where Kenya’s presidential election campaign has been beset by fake news such as bogus BBC and CNN news reports using fabricated polls to overstate the prospects of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In London, Full Fact is working with Chequeado, an Argentina-based fact-checking organisation, and Africa Check, which operates in several sub-Saharan countries, including Nigeria and South Africa.

“It is like trying to build an immune system,” says Mevan Babakar, project manager at Full Fact in London. “As more information goes out into the world that is wrong, what we don’t have is the means of pushing back against that.”

The early version of the software scans the subtitles of live news programmes, broadcasts of parliament, the Hansard parliamentary record, and articles published by newspapers. It tracks millions of words sentence by sentence until it identifies a claim that appears to match a fact-check already in its database.

The Guardian witnessed a real-time demonstration during a health debate in parliament. Words spoken by the politicians were underlined if they matched an existing fact-check. For example, the claim that “in the last six years of the last Labour government, 25,000 hospital beds were cut” flags a fact-check from the database that states: “Correct, the number of overnight beds in the English NHS actually fell by slightly more – about 26,000 – between 2003-04 and 2009-10”.

Another claim, that 10,000 more NHS nursing training places had been made available is also flagged: “Incorrect. This figure refers to the government’s ambition for additional places by 2020 on nursing, midwifery and child health courses”.

In another version of the software, the fact-checks pop up on the TV screen as politicians are speaking, giving viewers instant verdicts on politicians’ claims. The experience of watching political debate programmes like BBC’s Question Time could be transformed.

The developers want to expand the program so that it carries out its own fact-checks by using databases of statistics and verified information. Work is also under way to give Twitter and Facebook users the chance to fact-check their social media feeds, where the large majority of the worst fake news has been distributed. 

“This is an important investment in the future of fact-checking,” says Stephen King, the Omidyar Network’s global lead on governance and citizen engagement. “These tools will expand the reach and impact of fact-checkers around the world, ensuring citizens are properly informed and those in positions of power are held accountable. 

However, Babakar [Full Fact project manager] is keen to stress the limitations of the system so far and believes the tool should only be used by journalists in the first instance rather than the general public. 

“If we go straight to the public it will pit us against people wanting quick answers who won’t be satisfied because we can’t always make the answers small,” she said. “It is to help the journalist better push back, for example by challenging politicians at a press conference  rather than going back to their desk and researching the claims. This way you can challenge the claim straight away. That is really important for public debate.”

The fledgling system is not without its problems; sometimes it flags up a fact-check that isn’t relevant, for example. The challenge for the programmers is to get the software to understand the fuzzy logic and idiom used so often in speech. 

Neither is Babakar comfortable with the idea that the system separates the true from the false, especially since “fake” has become associated with information people dislike rather than which is objectively false. 

“I have a problem with the word truth because that means different things to different people,” said Babakar. “I think things are correct or incorrect. A truth can be personal. People may say crime is rising because it is in their area but the national average may be falling.” 

The software’s aim is not to offer people conclusions, but instead provide “the best available evidence”, Babakar says."
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No bachelor's degree needed for 30 million jobs in the US paying an average of $55,000 yearly. Unfortunately for those with bachelor's degrees, median earnings were lower in 2015 than 2010 when adjusted for inflation-NPR

"Tennessee has made its technical colleges free." 

4/25/18, "High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University," npr.org, All Things Considered, Ashley Gross, Jon Marcus 

"Like most other American high school students, Garret Morgan had it drummed into him constantly: Go to college. Get a bachelor's degree. 

"All through my life it was, 'if you don't go to college you're going to end up on the streets,' " Morgan said. "Everybody's so gung-ho about going to college." 

So he tried it for a while. Then he quit and started training as an ironworker, which is what he is doing on a weekday morning in a nondescript high-ceilinged building with a concrete floor in an industrial park near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. 

Morgan and several other men and women are dressed in work boots, hard hats and Carhartt's, clipped to safety harnesses with heavy wrenches hanging from their belts. They're being timed as they wrestle 600-pound I-beams into place. 

Seattle is a forest of construction cranes, and employers are clamoring for skilled ironworkers. Morgan, who is 20, is already working on a job site when he isn't at the Pacific Northwest Ironworkers shop. He gets benefits, including a pension, from employers at the job sites where he is training. And he is earning $28.36 an hour, or more than $50,000 a year, which is almost certain to steadily increase. 

As for his friends from high school, "they're still in college," he said with a wry grin. "Someday maybe they'll make as much as me."

While a shortage of workers is pushing wages higher in the skilled trades, the financial return from a bachelor's degree is softening, even as the price — and the average debt into which it plunges students — keeps going up. 

But high school graduates have been so effectively encouraged to get a bachelor's that high-paid jobs requiring shorter and less expensive training are going unfilled. This affects those students and also poses a real threat to the economy. 

"Parents want success for their kids," said Mike Clifton, who teaches machining at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, about 20 miles from Seattle. "They get stuck on [four-year bachelor's degrees], and they're not seeing the shortage there is in tradespeople until they hire a plumber and have to write a check." 

In a new report, the Washington State Auditor found that good jobs in the skilled trades are going begging because students are being almost universally steered to bachelor's degrees. 

Among other things, the Washington auditor recommended that career guidance — including choices that require less than four years in college — start as early as the seventh grade. 

"There is an emphasis on the four-year university track" in high schools, said Chris Cortines, who co-authored the report. Yet, nationwide, three out of 10 high school grads who go to four-year public universities haven't earned degrees within six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

At four-year private colleges, that number is more than 1 in 5. 

"Being more aware of other types of options may be exactly what they need," Cortines said. In spite of a perception "that college is the sole path for everybody," he said, "when you look at the types of wages that apprenticeships and other career areas pay and the fact that you do not pay four years of tuition and you're paid while you learn, these other paths really need some additional consideration." 

And it's not just in Washington state. 

Seventy-percent of construction companies nationwide are having trouble finding qualified workers, according to the Associated General Contractors of America; in Washington, the proportion is 80 percent. 

There are already more trade jobs like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheet-metal work and pipe-fitting than Washingtonians to fill them, the state auditor reports. Many pay more than the state's average annual wage of $54,000. 

Construction, along with health care and personal care, will account for one-third of all new jobs through 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There will also be a need for new plumbers and new electricians. And, as politicians debate a massive overhaul of the nation's roads, bridges and airports, the U.S. Department of Education reports that there will be 68 percent more job openings in infrastructure-related fields in the next five years than there are people training to fill them. 

"The economy is definitely pushing this issue to the forefront," said Amy Morrison Goings, president of the Lake Washington Institute of Technology, which educates students in these fields. "There isn't a day that goes by that a business doesn't contact the college and ask the faculty who's ready to go to work." 

In all, some 30 million jobs in the United States that pay an average of $55,000 per year don't require bachelor's degrees, according to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce. Yet the march to bachelor's degrees continues. And while people who get them are more likely to be employed and make more money than those who don't, that premium appears to be softening; their median earnings were lower in 2015, when adjusted for inflation, than in 2010. 

"There's that perception of the bachelor's degree being the American dream, the best bang for your buck," said Kate Blosveren Kreamer, deputy executive director of Advance CTE, an association of state officials who work in career and technical education. "The challenge is that in many cases it's become the fallback. People are going to college without a plan, without a career in mind, because the mindset in high school is just, 'Go to college.'" 

It's not that finding a job in the trades, or even manufacturing, means needing no education after high school. Most regulators and employers require certificates, certifications or associate degrees. But those cost less and take less time than earning a bachelor's degree. Tuition and fees for in-state students to attend a community or technical college in Washington State, for example, come to less than half the cost of a four-year public university, the state auditor points out, and less than a tenth of the price of attending a private four-year college. 

People with career and technical educations are also more likely to be employed than their counterparts with academic credentials, the U.S. Department of Education reports, and significantly more likely to be working in their fields of study. 

Young people don't seem to be getting that message. The proportion of high school students who earned three or more credits in occupational education — typically an indication that they're interested in careers in the skilled trades — has fallen from 1 in 4 in 1990 to 1 in 5 now, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Washington is not the only state devoting attention to this.

California is spending $200 million to improve the delivery of career and technical education. Iowa community colleges and businesses are collaborating to increase the number of "work-related learning opportunities," including apprenticeships, job shadowing and internships. Tennessee has made its technical colleges free. 

So severe are looming shortages of workers in the skilled trades in Michigan that Gov. Rick Snyder in February announced a $100 million proposal he likens to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II. 

At the federal level, there is bipartisan support for making Pell grants available for short-term job-training courses and not just university tuition. The Trump administration supports the idea.

 
 
A quarter of states last year reduced their own funding for postsecondary career and technical education, according to the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education. 

The branding issue  

Money isn't the only issue, advocates for career and technical education say. An even bigger challenge is convincing parents that it leads to good jobs.

"They remember 'voc-ed' from what they were in high school, which is not necessarily what they aspire to for their own kids," Kreamer said. 

The parents "are definitely harder to convince because there is that stigma of the six-pack-totin' ironworker," said Greg Christiansen, who runs the ironworkers training program. Added Kairie Pierce, apprenticeship and college director for the Washington State Labor Council of the AFL-CIO:

"It sort of has this connotation of being a dirty job. 'It's hard work — I want something better for my son or daughter.'" 

Of the $200 million that California is spending on vocational education, $6 million is going into a campaign to improve the way people regard it. The Lake Washington Institute of Technology changed its name from Lake Washington Technical College, said Goings, its president, to avoid being stereotyped as a vocational school. 

These perceptions fuel the worry that, if students are urged as early as the seventh grade to consider the trades, then low-income, first-generation and ethnic and racial minority high school students will be channeled into blue-collar jobs while wealthier and white classmates are pushed by their parents to get bachelor's degrees.... 

In a quest for prestige and rankings, and to bolster real-estate values, high schools also like to emphasize the number of their graduates who go on to four-year colleges and universities. 

Jessica Bruce followed that path, enrolling in college after high school for one main reason: because she was recruited to play fast-pitch softball. "I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life," she said. 

She never earned her degree and now, she's an apprentice ironworker, making $32.42 an hour, or more than $60,000 a year, while continuing her training. At 5-foot-2, "I can run with the big boys," she said, laughing. 

As for whether anyone looks down on her for not having a bachelor's degree, Bruce doesn't particularly care. 

"The misconception," she said, "is that we don't make as much money." And then she laughed again."




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