Power & Politics: Bruce Blakeman is GOP top choice for NY governor, Siena poll says

Ex-US Rep. George Santos sentenced to over 7 years in prison for fraud and identity theft

Nassau legislators approve $426M plan following months of disputes

Reps. Suozzi, Gillen addess constituents' concerns about Social Security

Turn to Tara: PFAS toxins found in tri-state water supply

Trump official urges criminal probe of New York attorney general, who calls request 'retaliation'

longisland

News 12 Staff

LIPP915B_2024-09-15-12-03-04

Welcome back. There are many key takeaways from the presidential debate. But one moment that has gotten some of the most attention was this claim from former President Trump, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats, they're eating, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And former president Trump brought up a baseless rumor that Haitian immigrants in Spring, Ohio, we're stealing people's pets and eating them. This has been debunked by the city manager there. The Republican governor of the state says there's no credible evidence that it ever happened. Haitian Long Islanders tell us they were disgusted by the remarks, Haitians, they come here, they come to work, they come to uh uh uh uh um build a foundation here, build a life here. They don't come here to rob and eat dogs and do stuff like that. Haitian American cultural organizations gathered in Elmont calling on elected officials to denounce the remarks state assembly member Mikael Sola is a Haitian American herself. She says she's worried Trump's comments could spark anti immigrant violence and the assembly woman is here now to talk more about it. Thanks for coming in? Thank you for having me. What was your reaction in that moment? Watching the debate, when you heard what the former president said, I was shocked because we see a leader, our former president spreading misinformation and disinformation uh during a debate where they should be talking about policies and how we can move this country forward and instead talking about unhinged, untrue things. It's, it's, it's unbelievable and I was just simply disgusted and, you know, I heard this baseless rumor a couple of days before uh from his running mate, JD Vance who alleged that Haitian immigrants were eating pets and also spreading diseases like A I DS, which is a trope that's common, that was common in the uh eighties against Haitians. And I was just simply disgusted. Uh there shouldn't be hate against a group of people and uh our leader shouldn't be spewing this hate. This has been something that had been circulating on social media, especially among right wing accounts on X and places like that. But to many Americans who are watching the debate, this is the first time they had even heard about these rumors, let alone the fact that it came up as you say in that setting on that platform. Do you believe it's going to be damaging to Haitian Americans? Not just in Ohio, but across the country. It is because it creates a, a first, a culture of, of hate and division which you know, as a country. We are better than that. And then second, it, it creates violence towards a community. Uh This incident is untrue. There was no Haitian person eating a pet. Um It was an incident that didn't even happen in Springfield, Ohio. And uh it's just, it's, it's gonna create this perception that we are here to incite violence and hurt people and hurt, hurt animals, which is untrue. You know, Haitian uh you know, immigrants, Haitian Americans are hard working people. Uh We believe in the American dream. We work hard and many of those Haitian immigrants are here lawfully under temporary protection status. So they went through the system of getting here. And so it's unfair to demonize us just for political points. It's disgusting. What does it say about our society today? The intersection of social media and public dialogue that something like this can gain traction on social media and literally get to the level of a presidential debate. Probably the only debate we're going to see between former President Trump and Vice President Harris. It's a sad state of play. You know, our politics should be about policy. We should be talking about education, health care, how we can rein in inflation. But instead we're talking about misinformation and disinformation. It's a sad state of play and also the fact that we lack civility. You know, there are elected officials here in New York who who retweeted that information. We have us senators such as Ted Cruz who retweeted that and also billionaires like Elon Musk, perpetuating that information. This is ludicrous, you know, we should be making sure that these platforms are spreading accurate information, not misinformation and making sure that our leaders are held accountable. And so I'm just simply disgusted by those who, you know, accelerated this information and also those who stay silent and not call out the individuals who are perpetuating this information. President uh former President Trump is gonna be here on Long Island this upcoming week at the invitation of the NASA Republican chairman Joe Cairo County executive Bruce Wei. According to sources, uh speaking with us, what's your reaction to that? I mean, he's one of the two presidential candidate. It is a big deal that he's gonna be here. What do you think about it? Look, I've been in politics for about 15 years and uh when you're this close to an election, you should be talking to the undecided voters. So you break it down. Presidential candidates should be in swing states, engaging those voters ensuring that the electoral college goes their way. If you see that Vice President Harris is doing that. But unfortunately, uh Donald Trump is here in a blue state in a blue town just worrying about crowd sizes. It's, it's basically a ego trip for him to be here. And so it's unfortunate that this political party is uh succumbing to his ego trip and they're gonna focus on filling a stadium. But us as Democrats, we're gonna make sure that we take this opportunity to do action. As Michelle Obama said, we gotta do something. So I know with the National County Democratic Party and others, we are going to be knocking on doors in different congressional districts, in different electoral districts and making sure that we galvanize the vote because many people are upset that Donald Trump is gonna be in Nassau County. I've gotten numerous phone calls about how he's going to be here. How disgusted people are, how he's gonna bring division to Nassau County, which is a very diverse community. And so we're gonna, we're gonna make sure that goes in and, and plays in our factor. Remember uh Biden won Nassau County when he ran, you know, Nassau County typically votes for the Democratic candidate and I believe that Harris will do extremely well in Nassau County. So Donald Trump coming here is just an ego trip for him. It's about his crowd size and not about making sure to, to galvanize the vote. We're gonna be smart and we're gonna make sure we're gonna use this for our, our power. All right, we'll see how this plays out assembly woman. Thank you so much for coming in the studio here. Thank you and still to come here on power and politics. We are talking about lawmakers on Long Island, taking action to tackle hate everything being done right now to put a stop to a disturbing rise in anti Semitism in our area. Stay with us.

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LIPP915C_2024-09-15-12-03-33

Welcome back. $3.5 million in federal funding is now going to keeping Long Islanders safe at places of worship. Senator Chuck Schumer says the money will go to 14 organizations across the island to boost security and safety at synagogues, churches and other nonprofits. We're told the money will pay for security guards, cameras, fencing and more. Meanwhile, Jewish leaders and elected officials are putting together a group to tackle the growing problem of anti Semitism. A new anti Semitism task force created by the town of Hempstead will identify the causes and come up with solutions to deal with hate in our area. The anti defamation league reported 178 anti Semitic incidents took place on Long Island in 2023. That is a massive jump of 134%. Not only meet and talk about the incidents that have taken place but where they've taken place. Are they targeted areas. Meanwhile, community leaders say they're concerned for safety during the upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, especially as this year. They're near the one year anniversary of the October 7th attack on Israel, former President Trump as we mentioned earlier will make a stop on Long Island this week for a campaign rally. The Trump campaign says it will take place at the Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday. Sources say county executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican party chairman Joe Cairo, they invited the former president. Police commissioner, Patrick Ryder says they'll be increasing patrols, working hand in hand with Coliseum security to keep everyone's safe. We will make sure that it is one of the safest venues in the country guaranteed. And then outside, we'll have a large uh gathering, I'm sure. And again, it's, we will make sure that everybody's protected. When you come to that date. We are invested in security and safety county exec demands perfection. We push towards it and that's what we're gonna do. And again, that rally is Wednesday, it's set to begin at 7 p.m. and the doors open at three. And finally, today, I wanna revisit that image of President Biden, Vice President Harris and former president Trump all standing shoulder to shoulder during the 911 commemoration ceremony at ground zero, Trump and Harris shook hands at this ceremony less than 12 hours after they did the same at their high stakes debate in Pennsylvania. That was the first time they ever met in person. This will no doubt be a rough and tumble campaign from now until election day, but at least for one morning in New York City on a solemn day, civility was on full display. And from where I'm standing, it was a welcome sight. I'm Rich for Abi. Thanks for watching.

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