Obama Portrait, Anti-Muslim Activist, Teacher Died, and Kirsten Gillibrand

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from February 13, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join.

Hour 1:

 Segment 1

 Cenk. Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday offered what was perhaps the most bizarre assessment yet of former President Barack Obama's official portrait by suggesting an artist included "sexual innuendo" in his depiction of the 44th president. A now-deleted post on Hannity's website claimed the portrait, painted by Kehinde Wiley, featured "secret sperm cells," seemingly referencing the detail of Obama's temple in the painting. In a since-deleted tweet on this, Hannity wrote, "Obama's portrait - a stark contrast to predecessors with inappropriate sexual innuendo." A conservative activist in Minnesota introduced a resolution last week to “minimize and eliminate the influence of Islam” in the state’s Republican Party. Jeff Baumann, a notorious anti-Muslim activist in Minnesota’s Senate District 36, also urged in the resolution that “no Islamic leader, religious or otherwise, shall ever be allowed to deliver the invocation at any Republican convention or event.” The resolution further called for “legislation, policies, and educational programs [to] be implemented... so as to evermore minimize and eliminate the influence of Islam within Minnesota, including Minnesota schools.” Two members of the Central Park Five spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night, and they argued that President Trump‘s defense of Rob Porter fits in quite well with Trump’s pattern of behavior. Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana were wrongfully convicted of raping and assaulting a jogger back in the ’90s. Trump not only called for their executions with a full page New York Times ad, but he still believes the two men are guilty despite both of them being exonerated by DNA evidence. Federal records show that Michael and Donna Nicholson, parents of the GOP candidate Nicholson, both gave the maximum $2,700 donation in December to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Democrat Nicholson hopes to unseat later this year.

Segment 2

 A second grade teacher from Texas died of the flu after she skipped treatment for the virus because it "cost too much." The president’s long-awaited $1.5 trillion proposal, which was released Monday, seeks to leverage $200 billion in direct federal spending over the next decade into an additional $1.3 trillion by relying on state and local tax dollars, as well as private investment. One way to attract private investors to finance infrastructure projects would be to toll roads. Trump’s infrastructure plan would give states more flexibility to toll existing interstate highways ― under the rationale that if you use a road, you ought to pay a price in order to maintain it. Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, considered a potential presidential candidate in 2020, announced Tuesday that she will no longer accept contributions from corporate political action committees.

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