Page 212 – Texas Weekly Online

Georgia’s Muslim voters opposing Harris, Trump in election over both candidates’ support for Israel

A growing group of Muslim voters in Georgia say they will not back either Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump in next month’s election because of both candidates’ support of Israel amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Harris has said she supports Israel’s right to defend itself and would not withhold weapons from the country, but has also called for a ceasefire in Gaza, while Trump said recently he is Israel’s “protector” and reaffirmed his support for the Jewish state. In battleground Georgia, where Trump narrowly lost in 2020 to President Joe Biden, the Peach State could help determine whether Harris or Trump wins the presidency. The Muslim population in Georgia could also impact which candidate wins the state’s 16 electoral votes. Muslim voters across the country are virtually tied between Harris and Trump, with Harris only securing a single-point advantage, according to a recent poll by the Arab American Institute. KAMALA HARRIS’ SUPPORT WITH ARAB AND MUSLIM COMMUNITIES IN MICHIGAN IS ‘TENUOUS’: DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST Kristen Truitt, a Muslim American voter in Atlanta, has voted for Democrats in prior elections but now says the party will not have his support over its position on Israel. “Just to give unlimited funds and access to Israel, I think that is totally ridiculous,” Truitt told Fox 5 Atlanta. This comes just ahead of the one-year mark of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists. The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and took more than 250 hostages, which prompted retaliatory action from Israel’s military. The Hamas-run government’s Gaza Health Ministry estimates that more than 41,000 people have been killed in the conflict, although it does not distinguish between civilian and terrorist deaths. More than 1,500 people have reportedly been killed in Israel since the start of the conflict, with most of them being killed on Oct. 7 and its immediate aftermath. TRUMP SAYS ISRAEL SHOULD HIT IRAN’S NUCLEAR FACILITIES, SLAMMING BIDEN’S RESPONSE The growing group of Muslim voters in Georgia and across the country have said they will not vote for Harris or Trump due to both sides’ vocal support of Israel in its war in Gaza, and the conflict is now expanding to include Israel attacking Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon. “What we’re trying to say is we should really do away with the logic of voting for the ‘lesser of two evils,’” Kareem Rosshandler, Georgia co-chair of the “Abandon Harris” campaign, told Fox 5. The “Abandon Harris” campaign group is urging Muslims to vote third-party to send a message to Republicans and Democrats that they need to earn the votes of the Muslim community. “I think the main one is to say that the Muslim community in the United States won’t be taken for granted,” Rosshandler said. Rosshandler said the group has already secured commitments from more than 10,000 Muslim voters to support third-party candidates. Some third-party candidates, including Libertarian Chase Oliver and the Green Party’s Jill Stein, have been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza. The loss of Muslim voters is expected to hurt Harris more than Trump, as the Republican candidate has previously struggled to secure Muslim votes. “That would essentially have a greater adverse impact on the Harris-Waltz ticket than it would on Trump-Vance,” Emory University assistant professor of law Alicia Hughes, who is also a voting expert, told Fox 5 Atlanta. “Trump, historically, has not been able to count on those votes.” Hughes also says that if Harris or Trump were more vocally critical of Israel, it may not help their election chances either. “There’s a great possibility that you would lose more from the change than you would actually gain,” she said.

New York company unveils 100-foot ‘Vote for Trump’ sign, gets sued by Democratic mayor

A 100-foot wide “Vote for Trump” sign in upstate New York is stirring controversy after the City of Amsterdam claimed it’s a big, glowing code violation. Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino told Fox News Digital he installed the sign on top of the old Fownes glove factory to symbolize the return of American manufacturing and what he calls “the triumph of the underdog against insurmountable adversity.” “I think that’s what President Trump did. He triumphed against massive adversity. He’s still doing that with bullets flying by his head,” Constantino said. “And we triumph too. Nobody thought we could build a massive sticker company or a massive tech company in upstate New York.” But his company now faces adversity in the form of legal action by the City of Amsterdam to prevent the “displaying” and “illumination” of the pro-Trump sign, which is visible from the New York State Thruway. TRUMP’S RETURN TO BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, SITE OF FIRST ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT, IS ‘GUTSY,’ SUPPORTERS SAY According to court documents, the sign violates city code because it “presents a dangerous distraction and impacts traffic flow,” especially at night when it is illuminated. Local officials allege Sticker Mule was informed it would need a permit and several variances to install the sign in August, but the company never responded before the sign went up Oct. 1. Constantino and his legal team contest the city’s claims. The CEO believes Amsterdam’s Democratic Party-endorsed independent mayor is anti-Trump and has vowed to fight a temporary injunction that requires the sign to be covered up. Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti did not respond to requests for comment. Dressed in a black T-shirt that said “Trump For Peace,” Constantino describes Sticker Mule as “the internet’s fastest growing printing company” with 1,200 employees in 39 countries. His online business began by making stickers but has since expanded to print T-shirts, buttons and magnets and even operates its own online store platform, Sticker Mule Stores. He is proud to report that Sticker Mule has created nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. over the past few years. “I like to move fast and do interesting things,” Constantino told Fox News Digital. Success in business gave him the means to reinvest in his hometown of Amsterdam, and the Fownes factory was one of several buildings he bought and restored, filling them with machines and workers. FORMER NFL STAR AND TRUMP SUPPORTER ANTONIO BROWN JOINS VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT IN KEY SWING STATE “Fownes was a glove manufacturer that left my hometown when I was 2 years old in 1984,” he said, explaining that Amsterdam was “decimated” by job loss when the factory, with its iconic “Fownes” sign, closed its doors. “This Fownes sign for years symbolized American manufacturing going to China,” Constantino said. Now, the $150,000 “Vote for Trump” sign sits in its place, heralding a new era of American manufacturing jobs. The impossible-to-miss sign attracted “major interest,” according to Constantino. To celebrate its installation, his political action committee, StickerPAC, plans to host a “Trump Sign Lighting Party” Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. A news release about the event says UFC superstars Henry Cejudo, Kelvin Gastelum and Tracy Cortez will join Constantino to speak and support the “historic event.” According to a representative for Constantino, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is also expected to speak at the event. Stefanik’s office did not respond to a request for comment. “The enthusiasm just went through the roof. We’ve got three UFC superstars that wanted to come see it. We’ve got people that want to come from all over the state of New York, people that want to fly in or drive in from all over the country, really, to see the sign get lit up,” Constantino said. ‘TIGHTEST RACE SINCE 2000’: HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN HITS FINAL STRETCH UNTIL ELECTION DAY But the festivities may be cut short by legal action from Amsterdam. On Oct. 3, the city code enforcer sent a notice of violation to Sticker Mule that gave the company two days to remove the “Vote for Trump” sign. The city also requested an injunction from the Supreme Court of the State of New York to prevent the sign from being displayed. “The affidavit claims, without evidence, that the city will suffer irreparable harm because the sign is a dangerous distraction for drivers due to its novelty and the fear that people will stop to take pictures of it,” said Sal Ferlazzo, general counsel for Sticker Mule. “The court, based solely on the city’s presentation and without any opportunity for me to respond, did initially grant a preliminary injunction and restraining order.” A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. Until that time, the court ordered Sticker Mule to refrain from “displaying any sign and/or illumination of any sign on the roof of 26 Elk Street.” On the advice of legal counsel, Sticker Mule has temporarily covered up the pro-Trump sign to comply with the court order. TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 63 INTERVIEWS SINCE AUGUST COMPARED TO 24 FOR HARRIS-WALZ “I think it’s deeply disturbing,” Constantino said of the city’s action. “I brought nearly a thousand jobs to my hometown, which was decimated when the Fownes company and other companies left. And I’m trying to do something positive, exciting for the community.” He suggested Mayor Cinquanti has “TDS” — Trump derangement syndrome — and is fighting the sign for political reasons. “They do know that they are in violation,” Cinquanti told The Daily Gazette. “They’ve been cited, and we’ll just let that play out as we would with any code violation.” The mayor, who according to the newspaper has previously called Trump his least favorite president in American history, insisted the city’s objections to the sign are about safety, not politics. “I don’t care what the sign says, but distracting the attention of drivers on the freeway is something that needs to be looked at, and that’s what we’re doing,” he told the outlet. “Any sign that represents a

Absentee voting kicks off in Maine

Absentee voting in Maine is getting underway, with the state’s four Electoral College votes up for grabs and a number of other national, statewide and local races on the ballot. Maine is one of two states in the U.S. — the other is Nebraska — that does not use a winner-take-all system for all its electors. In the presidential race, two electors are given to the winner of the statewide popular vote, while one elector is awarded to Maine’s District 1 and District 2, respectively. Maine is one of several Democratic-leaning northeastern states. President Biden won here by about nine points in 2020, improving on Hillary Clinton’s margin four years earlier. And it hasn’t voted for a Republican at the statewide level since 1988. It is ranked Likely D on the Fox News Power Rankings. Like Nebraska, it also allocates its electoral votes by congressional district. The winner of the statewide tally receives two votes, with another vote for the winner of the presidential tally in each of its two districts. The small coastal 1st District is solid blue territory. The 2nd District, which is predominantly rural and represents almost all the land area of the state, leans conservative. Trump won the 2nd District by 7.4 points in his last race, and it’s ranked Likely R this cycle. The former president will look for a win here to get one step closer to the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the presidency. The same district is also home to a competitive House race. Maine’s 2nd District: Incumbent Rep. Jared Golden is one of five Democrats running in districts Trump won in the last presidential election (Golden won by 6 points). The former Marine made headlines this year when he said he “didn’t know” whether he would vote for Biden again and was one of the first Democrats to question Biden’s mental fitness. This time, he’s up against Maine State Representative and former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault, who says he wants “more balance and less extremism” in politics. This race is a Power Rankings toss-up. This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Maine. TRUMP CAN WIN ON THESE 3 KEY ISSUES, MICHIGAN VOTERS TELL FOX Absentee ballots are beginning to be sent to voters after clerks were required to have received printed ballots to be sent out by Saturday. Applicants do not need to provide an excuse to receive a ballot. The state must receive a ballot application by Oct. 31, and that ballot must be delivered to county officials by Nov. 5. OBAMA TO CAMPAIGN FOR HARRIS IN PENNSYLVANIA, OTHER KEY STATES Maine counties offer early in-person voting, but the start date varies by location. Check the state’s website for more information. Residents may vote in person with an absentee ballot until the Thursday before Election Day. Maine residents can register to vote online or by mail through Oct. 15. They can also register in person during early voting and on Election Day.

AAP leader shot at during argument with SAD leader in Punjab’s Jalalabad, critically injured

Mandeep Singh Brar, an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and candidate in upcoming Punjab local body polls, was shot at during an argument with a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader in Jalalabad in Punjab’s Fazilka district

Karnataka businessman goes missing, damaged BMW found near Mangaluru’s Kolur bridge, police suspect…

Karnataka businessman Mumthaz Ali went missing after his damaged car was found, sparking a large-scale search operation.

Here’s what two undecided Wisconsin voters are holding out for in the 2024 election

WISCONSIN — With only one month until the presidential election, very few voters are still uncertain about their choice, but in a battleground state like Wisconsin that has flipped in the past two elections, those undecided voters could make the difference. Estimates of still-undecided voters in Wisconsin are in the low single digits, with the latest Marquette Law School poll reporting that just 4% identified themselves as such. Fox News Digital spoke with two such voters, who laid out why they are still holding out and what they need to seal the deal. TRUMP ATTORNEYS ARGUE JACK SMITH’S OBSTRUCTION CHARGES BE DISMISSED, CITING SUPREME COURT’S ‘FISCHER’ DECISION “I got to make up my mind when I fill out the paper,” said 86-year-old Edgar Schiekiera of Waukesha, Wisconsin. “I’m going to throw a dart,” he laughed. Schiekiera is an immigrant from Germany who noted that he grew up during the Second World War. For him, former President Trump’s comments on foreign policy have been troubling, enough so to make him hesitate to support Trump for a third time. “I voted for Trump the first year. I voted for him the second year. I don’t — this time, I don’t know,” he said. “I’m from Germany, and things that he’s said about [the] NATO Alliance — he wants quit it, and he doesn’t know what to do,” he said of what’s making him unsure of Trump. “A real danger lives overseas.” BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS IN NEW INSTAGRAM VIDEO: ‘VISION OF AMERICA’ Schiekiera was also concerned about what Trump has said with relation to conflicts around the world, particularly involving Ukraine and Iran. “He can stop the war?” he asked, in reference to Trump’s own claims about the war between Ukraine and Russia. “He cannot stop the war.” However, he added that “Biden or Kamala Harris—she doesn’t know what’s going to happen,” either. According to him, he isn’t confident that either of the top candidates can effectively lead on the world stage in the current geopolitical climate. There are other issues that Schiekiera is taking into consideration as well, such as abortion. “I got my own ideas,” he said. He noted that Trump has appeared to change positions on “issues nationally [and] worldwide.” “Trump’s gone one way, and then he [goes] to another way. He’s undecided what he’s going to do, really.” DEMOCRATS WORRY ABOUT HARRIS’ CAUTIOUS MEDIA APPROACH IN TIGHT 2024 RACE: ‘VOTERS DESERVE BETTER’ In contrast, Keon Pierce of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, isn’t considering Trump at all. But he is not sold on Vice President Kamala Harris either. “I’m leaning Kamala, but I have to see. She’s got to convince me a little more,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m waiting to see who has the best — the best protection for different groups of people. You know, the best rights and best laws that can help all groups of people.” Pierce explained that he wanted to be sure the president would “help all people. Asian people, Indian people, Black people, everybody.” When Fox News Digital noted that Harris is both Black and Indian, he responded, “We had a Black president before, and it didn’t necessarily translate to helping the people,” in reference to former President Barack Obama. TRUMP CAN WIN ON THESE THREE KEY ISSUES, MICHIGAN VOTERS TELL FOX He said he was “open to” Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who will appear on the Wisconsin ballot after a court challenge to see her ousted was denied. “It’s possible that I wouldn’t vote as well,” he added. As for the Milwaukee area, Pierce explained, “It’s bad here. It’s really segregated here, and opportunities are limited.” He said he needs to hear more about what will be done to bring more “opportunities, jobs, education, [and] a better school system in the inner city.” In the latest Marquette Law School poll, Harris beat Trump among Wisconsin registered voters, 49% to 44%, with third-party options included. For the poll, 882 registered voters were interviewed between Sept. 18 and 26. It had a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Kurdish official warns US: ‘now is not the time’ to pull forces out of Iraq’

As the U.S. mulls over a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, its Kurdish allies have a message: Don’t forget us. “This is not the time to reduce coalition forces in Iraq,” Treefa Aziz, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s special representative to the U.S., told Fox News Digital. “Extremist groups like ISIS and armed militias continue to pose a serious threat to the people of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.” The U.S. announced plans to shrink the U.S. “footprint” in Iraq and end the current mission of coalition forces – including the Kurds – to fight ISIS, but declined to say how many of the 2,500 troops currently stationed there would remain. “A decade ago, Kurdish Peshmerga forces worked alongside U.S. troops to defeat ISIS and continue to actively combat ISIS remnants to prevent a resurgence of terror today,” Aziz said. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “has been a reliable security partner for the United States and remains ready to enhance cooperation.” But now, if Baghdad is pushing the U.S. out of Iraq, the U.S. could feel it must honor that request or risk making another enemy in the Middle East. The KRG says it would be “willing and able” to host U.S. coalition forces in its territory. The current mission is now set to end by September 2025, with a plan to keep the number of forces on the Iraqi side to back up the 900 U.S. troops in Syria until at least 2026. News of a plan that could amount to a significant drawdown of U.S. forces called to mind 2019, when former President Donald Trump announced plans to pull out of Syria and the Kurds felt abandoned by a partner they had fought alongside for years – leaving them open to an attack by Turkish forces. PENTAGON PLANS TO SHRINK US ‘FOOTPRINT’ IN IRAQ Trump, at the time, left the Kurds with a warning to their longtime enemies: “I have told Turkey that if they do anything outside of what we would think is humane . . . they could suffer the wrath of an extremely decimated economy.” The U.S. relationship with the Kurds – an indigenous group of daring fighters whose quest for their own formal state has been unsuccessful – spans back decades. When the Turks denied the U.S. passage into Iraq for the invasion in 2003, Iraqi Kurds helped the U.S. overthrow Saddam Hussein. The Kurds have fought with U.S. coalition forces since they reentered Iraq in 2014 to fight ISIS, and the U.S. pledged arms support and humanitarian aid. The group faces attacks from terror groups on all sides. And as Iran increasingly encroaches on the Iraqi government, Baghdad has the KRG in a choke-hold, officials say. US, IRAQ TEAM UP TO KILL 15 ISIS OPERATIVES “There is growing concern regarding efforts to weaken the federal system in Iraq. The constitutional framework, which is designed to ensure shared governance, is disregarded,” one Kurdish official said. “The continued suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan region has placed significant economic strain. More than a year and half later, we have yet to see the resumption of these exports.” The KRG has been trying to work with the Iraqis on a power-sharing agreement with no real results. “Some of these actions appear to align with external influences rather than the broader national interest,” the official said, referring to Iranian influence. “With the assistance of our allies, we believe these issues can be resolvable through constructive dialogue and cooperation.” The KRG is also asking the U.S. government to “honor its commitment” included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to “provide the KRG with a comprehensive air defense system. The law required the Department of Defense to submit and implement a plan for providing the Iraqi security forces and Kurdistan Region with air defenses by July 2024. “As a steadfast U.S. ally that is regularly targeted by extremist violence, the KRG requires assurances that it will be protected from all threats, both internal and external,” said Aziz. Gen. Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told the House Armed Services Committee in March that ISIS-K, which launched a horrific attack in Moscow earlier this year, “retains the capability and the will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning.”

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