Defiant Trump insists anew: Blame both sides for violence
Kim Lenora Johnson
Mrs. Kim Lenora Johnson, age 57, of 66 Lyons Dr., Apt. H1, Rome, Ga., passed on Thursday, August 10, 2017. Services for Mrs. Johnson will be held Saturday, August 19, 2017, at 1 p.m. at Thankful Baptist Church. The body will lie in state from noon until the funeral hour. The family will receive friends Friday, August 18, 2017, at F.K. Jones Funeral Home in Peek Chapel from 7 p.m. until 8 p.m. F. K. Jones Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements.
Gloria Kidd
Ms. Gloria Kidd, age 55, of 13 Green and Gold Blvd., Rome, Ga., passed on Sunday, August 13, 2017. Services for Ms. Gloria Kidd will be held Friday, August 18, 2017, at 3 p.m. at New Life of St. John Baptist Church. The body will lie in state from 2 p.m. until the funeral hour. The family will receive friends at Mrs. Shelia Ringer’s residence, 16 Luminosa Ter., Rome, Ga. F. K. Jones Funeral Home has charge of the arrangements. George James Milliken
Mr. George James Milliken, age 51, of Rome, passed away Saturday, August 12, 2017.
Memorial services will be conducted Thursday evening at 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Lindale. Please visit our website, www. goodshepherdfh.net, to view the complete obituary.
Parnick Jennings Sr.’s Good Shepherd Funeral Home is serving the family of George James Milliken.
NEW YORK — Combative and insistent, President Donald Trump declared anew Tuesday “there is blame on both sides” for the deadly violence last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, appearing to once again equate the actions of white supremacist groups and those protesting them. He showed sympathy for the fringe groups’ efforts to preserve Confederate monuments.
The president’s comments effectively wiped away the more conventional statement he delivered at the White House a day earlier when he branded members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in violence as “criminals and thugs.”
Trump’s advisers had hoped those remarks might quell a crush of criticism from Republicans, Democrats and business leaders. But the president’s retorts Tuesday suggested he had been a reluctant participant in that cleanup effort and renewed questions about why he seems to struggle to unequivocally condemn white nationalists.
The blowback was swift, including from fellow Republicans. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Trump should not allow white supremacists “to share only part of the blame.” House Speaker Paul Ryan declared in a tweet that “white supremacy is repulsive” and there should be “no moral ambiguity,” though he did not specifically address the president.
Trump’s remarks were welcomed by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who tweeted: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth.”