Most Americans reject Trump reaction

Charlottesville covers Confederate statues in black

WASHINGTON, Aug 24, (Agencies): Most Americans disapprove of Donald Trump’s response to the race-fueled protests and violence in Charlottesville and believe the president is dividing the country, a poll released Wednesday showed.

Trump’s job approval also sank to one of the lowest levels of his turbulent seven-month presidency, as respondents savaged his handling of racial issues following the deadly chaos that gripped the Virginia city, according to the latest Quinnipiac University Poll.

By a margin of 60 percent to 32 percent, respondents disapproved of Trump’s response to the events in Charlottesville, and by a similar margin they rejected the way he has handled race relations, the survey showed.

“Elected on his strength as a dealmaker, but now overwhelmingly considered a divider, President Donald Trump has a big negative job approval rating and low scores on handling racial issues,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Since Trump’s election, hatred and prejudice in the country has increased, 65 percent of voters said, with just two percent saying it has decreased.

“One word — Charlottesville,” Malloy said.

tion. That difference, often referred to as the “college wage premium,” was 56.6 percent across the entire nation in 2016.

MassBudget, a liberal-leaning economic and fiscal research group, cited data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute from the US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

In Massachusetts, 50.2 percent of individuals

Trump was widely criticized for using divisive language after clashes between white supremacist groups, including neo-Nazi and KKK supporters, and those opposed to them.

One woman was killed when a car driven by a suspected white supremacist plowed into a crowd of people after the rally called by far-right extremists turned violent.

Trump initially failed to explicitly condemn white supremacists for their role in the rally and the bloodshed, and said there were egregious displays of bigotry “on many sides.”

Stance

He doubled down on his deeply controversial stance three days later, insisting there was “blame on both sides.”

Poll respondents, by a margin of 62 to 35 percent, said they believe Trump “does not provide the US with moral leadership,” Quinnipiac said.

Meanwhile, workers in Charlottesville draped giant black covers over two statues of Confederate generals on Wednesday to symbolize the city’s mourning for a woman killed while protesting a white nationalist rally.

The work began around 1 pm in Emancipation Park, where a towering monument of Gen Robert E. Lee on horseback stands. Workers gathered around the monument with a large black drape. Some stood in cherrypickers

participating in the state’s labor force had attained at minimum a four-year degree from a college or university in 2016. The next highest states were New Jersey (45.2 percent), New York (43.7 percent), Maryland (43 percent) and Connecticut (42.7 percent), according to the CPS data. The US average was 35.5 percent in 2016. and others used ropes and poles to cover the statue as onlookers took photos and video. Some of the crowd cheered as the cover was put in place.

“It’s great. It’s a good start,” said Jamie Dyer, who spoke a short time later from nearby Justice Park, where workers covered a statue of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. “They do have to go, but it is a start, and I’m glad the city has finally recognized it has to happen on some level.”

In related news, Nick Fuentes, a radical right-wing provocateur who attended Virginia’s deadly rally in Charlottesville but denies any ties to neoNazis, says the nationwide backlash has only strengthened his support for Donald Trump.

But the 19-year-old student has dropped out of Boston University because of death threats owing to his attendance at the Aug 12 rally and is left wondering how to defend his beliefs in an increasingly divided US society.

“Certainly I am not intimidated or discouraged,” he tells AFP.

Fuentes says he travelled from his home near Chicago to Charlottesville to protest against what he calls “cultural genocide” in removing statues of leaders from the pro-slavery Civil War South, “massive migration” and “multiculturalism.”

The numbers point to a dramatic shift in recent decades. In 1979, only about 20 percent of the Massachusetts labor force had bachelor’s degrees, and the college wage premium was 50 percent. (AP)

Canadian pleads not guilty:

In his first U.S. court appearance on Wednesday, Canadian Karim Baratov pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped Russian agents in a high-profile cyber attack on Yahoo email accounts, his lawyer said.

Baratov, a 22-year old Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan, was arrested in Canada in March at the request of U.S. prosecutors. They charge he was paid to break into at least 80 email accounts by Russian intelligence agents who masterminded the 2014 theft of data from some 500 million Yahoo Inc user accounts.

Baratov entered his plea during a brief appearance at the US Federal Court in the Northern District of California, lawyer Andrew Mancilla said. His next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Mancilla declined to comment on prospects for a plea bargain for Baratov, who presented himself on social media accounts as a wealthy young man who loved expensive cars.

He waived his right to fight the US request for him to be extradited from Canada.

Baratov is the only person arrested to date among four men indicted in the case. The others include Alexsey Belan, who is among the FBI’s most-wanted cyber criminals, along with two officers in Russia’s Federal Security Services – Dmitry Dokuchaev and his superior, Igor Sushchin. (RTRS)