U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson came to Baltimore Wednesday to tout the Trump administration’s efforts to improve urban areas. But Carson ran into trouble when his entourage was kicked off the Southwest Baltimore property where they planned to hold a press conference.

HUD officials hoped to stage their event on a vacant lot, but never asked permission from Morning Star Baptist Church of Christ, which owns the lot and hopes to build a parking lot there, said church member Gregory Evans. Evans asked the HUD group to move off the property.

“It’s nothing personal,” Evans said from the church lobby, where he was reading the newspaper and checking in children to a vacation Bible school camp. “I didn’t know it was Secretary Carson. I just know there were a bunch of people over there that were taking over our site. And we said, 'Why are they here? They’ve not even asked for permission to be here.”

<snip>

Carson was not pleased. He suggested the church was an example of people refusing to work together to solve Baltimore’s problems.

“We just have all this animosity all the time,” Carson told reporters during his press conference. “For instance, you guys know, you were set up on this property and right here is this church that said: ‘Get off our property.’ You know, a church? When we’re talking about helping the people. I mean, this is the level to which we have sunken as a society.”

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-ben-carson-visit-20190731-20190731-zk22qwmp4fhvjklv3wxlbvxfkm-story.html

https://cathedral.org/have-we-no-decency-a-response-to-president-trump.html

The escalation of racialized rhetoric from the President of the United States has evoked responses from all sides of the political spectrum. On one side, African American leaders have led the way in rightfully expressing outrage. On the other, those aligned with the President seek to downplay the racial overtones of his attacks, or remain silent.

As faith leaders who serve at Washington National Cathedral ¬– the sacred space where America gathers at moments of national significance – we feel compelled to ask: After two years of President Trump’s words and actions, when will Americans have enough?

As Americans, we have had such moments before, and as a people we have acted. Events of the last week call to mind a similarly dark period in our history:

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. … You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”

https://www.newsweek.com/border-wall-seesaw-build-u-s-american-children-play-1451689

This week, children in the U.S. and Mexico had the chance to play together— despite the barriers that exist between them—after two California professors built a set of seesaws through a border fence.

In a video posted to Instagram by Ronald Rael, the University of California architecture professor who came up with the seesaw project alongside San Jose State design associate professor Virginia San Fratello, children can be seen on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border playing together on three bright pink seesaws built between Ciudad Juárez in Mexico's Chihuahua State and El Paso, Texas.

Calling the project "one of the most incredible experiences" of his and San Fratello's careers, Rael described how powerful it was to see a moment so "filled with joy, excitement and togetherness" unfold at the border wall.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/25/danielle-stella-republican-ilhan-omar-charged-felony-qanon-trump

A pro-Trump Republican candidate for Congress who is aiming to unseat Ilhan Omar in Minnesota has been charged with a felony after allegedly stealing from stores.

Trump speaks before presidential seal doctored with symbols of Russia and golf
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Danielle Stella was arrested twice this year in Minneapolis suburbs over allegations that she shoplifted items worth more than $2,300 from a Target and goods valued at $40 from a grocery store. She said she denied the allegations.

Stella, a 31-year-old special education teacher, was reported this week to be a supporter of the baseless “QAnon” conspiracy theory about Donald Trump battling a global cabal of elite liberal paedophiles.

This week Stella also described Minneapolis as “the crime capital of our country”. She has in the past complained that local police were “overworked and overburdened” and said that, if elected, she would work to reduce crime.

HERMITAGE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent tried to bring a man in Hermitage into custody, but neighbors formed a human chain to allow the man and his son to get home.

This happened Monday morning in the area of Brooke Valley Drive and Forest Ridge Drive. The man had entered into his van with his son when an ICE vehicle blocked him in.

Over the next few hours, neighbors came out to support their neighbor, bringing them water, gas, and wet rags so they could stay in their van.

<snip>

Eventually, after about 4 hours, the neighbors created a chain to allow the father and son to run into their home. They were able to do so and ICE left.

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/ice-agents-involved-in-a-traffic-stop-in-hemitage

Manufacturers are already hard at work churning out banners for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign — in China.

According to a Reuters report Wednesday, China’s Jiahao Flag Co. has produced more than 90,000 “Trump 2020: Keep America Great!” banners and flags since March, and the factory has ramped up production before Trump’s threatened tariffs against all Chinese-made goods kick on.


The banners and flags cost about $1 each to make, Reuters said, and a factory manager said Trump’s campaign suppliers appear to be trying to get their orders in before potential tariffs cause the price to rise.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-2020-campaign-banners-are-being-proudly-produced-in-china-2018-07-25