Trump Claims Drug Smugglers Use Catapult To Get Drugs Into US

President Trump stated at a rally in Alabama for Luther Strange that drug smugglers in Mexico are using catapults to launch drugs into the US. The President was making a case for a see-through barrier and described it as such, "they throw it over the wall, they have catapults, but they throw it over the wall and it lands and it hits somebody on the head, they don't even know they're there." He was immediately criticized for this on social media. Here are just a few examples from Twitter:

"No, he did not. Please say he didn't say this? Y'all, he has dementia. Someone needs to get him checked." 

"This is painfully delusional."

"No doubt that's about the dumbest thing yet."

But, guess what? He was correct. There have numerous reports of drug smugglers slinging heavy bags of drugs over the fence.

Headline from AZ Central from August 25, 2017: 

Border Patrol seizes 100-pound marijuana bundle launched over border fence

"Spokeswoman Stephanie Dixon said drug smugglers are increasingly launching massive bundles of pot over the border fence, posing a danger to nearby residents and businesses because of the weight of the bundles. She said she knew of one incident in which a bundle went through the roof of a dog house."

Source: https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/602697001


Headline from CNN February 15, 2017: 

Drug-slinging catapult seized on US-Mexico border

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/marijuana-catapult-trnd/index.html


This has been going on since at least 2011, as can be seen here in this grainy video posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r65sGnwf5bk


To be fair some of the criticism stems from the fact President Trump said, "and it hits somebody on the head." It is unclear whether that has happened or not. The wording and use of present tense could simply reflect setting up a scenario where it could happen.

Trump Did Not Push Montenegro PM Markovic

In what was a friendly exchange between two men, who met earlier in the day, is being turned into something completely ridiculous. If you are to believe the press, President Trump "pushed" or "shoved" the Prime Minister of Montenegro Dusko Markovic. Markovic himself told the Washington Post, "It was an inoffensive situation... I do not see it any other way. I had the opportunity today to thank President Trump personally for his support, speed ratification of the Accession Protocol in the U.S. Senate, the overall support for Montenegro’s Euro-Atlantic integration and of course the further development of our bilateral relations."

As one can clearly see from the video, President Trump approached Markovic from behind, and patted him sternly on the right arm as if to say, hey buddy. A split second later, as you can see in the picture below, Markovic is smiling, as is Trump.

Trump's left side of his torso is pressed up against Markovic and the latter has his right arm on Trump's lower back as you can see if you look closely at the next photo:

In addition to claiming Trump shoved a nation's Prime Minister, the media also claimed it was for the purpose of getting into a better position for a photo op. The problem with that is, as Sean Spicer pointed out, those spots are already predetermined, so they're would be no reason to push anybody aside.

Few and far between, there were some words of clarity to be found once you sift through all the typical noise:

As Dan Calabrese wrote in the Canada Free Press: “Look, I understand there’s a frenzy out there now to alert on anything and everything Trump does and to characterize it as insane, out-of-control, evil and whatever else. But if you see this and think you see a ‘shove,’ I don’t know what to tell you.”

Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/05/26/trumps-shove-was-inoffensive-montenegro-prime-minister-says/102184518/
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/26/montenegros-prime-minister-didnt-mind-president-trumps-shove-seen-round-the-world/
& glancing at the first two pages of Google search results.

Claim: President Trump Refused to Shake Hands and Was Rude To Angela Merkel

In what was likely an attempt to further the narrative that President Trump is sexist and "hates women", numerous media outlets claimed, as fact, that the President refused to shake hands with Angela Merkel when she visited the White House during their joint presser.

Some of the headlines:

Donald Trump Refuses to Shake Angela Merkel's Hand - The Independent UK

Petulant Man-child Refuses to Shake German Chancellor Merkel's Hand - The Daily Kos

Trump Straight Up Ignores Request To Shake Hands With Angela Merkel - The Huffington Post

No Shake: Donal Trump Snubs Angela Merkel During Photo Op - The Guardian

There are countless headlines just like this.

The fact of the matter is Trump shook her hand during her visit numerous times.

So what's the beef? It all stems from the final sit down they had in front of cameras. Here is the tail end of the conversation:

DT: Send a good picture back to Germany, please. Make sure.

AM: (Laughs)

Reporter: How did the talks go?

DT: Very good.

Reporter: Did you talk about NATO?

DT: Many things.

AM: (In German, speaking to a German reporter) Very well thank you. The reception was very friendly. It (the meeting) was a good opportunity. (Author's note: I speak fluent German)

Now at this point, Chancellor Merkel had been looking to her left speaking to the German reporter, which you can see from the German reporting on the Bild website:

Right at this time, there was a lot of noise coming from reporters and some were yelling out "Handshake." The problem was the secret service was noisily ushering everybody out. Most videos of the event cut this part out, but it happened. See bottom picture.

President Trump even looks over to the Secret Service folks with a confused look on his face in the video footage, as shown in the top picture. It is during this commotion that Angela quietly asks if he wanted to do a handshake photo. Keep in mind, she had just been looking in that direction speaking German. Either Trump didn't hear or thought she was still speaking in German to the reporter. Either way, given the fact that he literally just told the German Press he wanted a good picture to send back to Germany, it is highly implausible that would openly refuse a handshake request. Not to mention the fact he already shook her hand on numerous occasions before and Chancellor Merkel herself even said it was a friendly reception.

Crowd Size the MLK Bust and Alternative Facts

Press Secretary Sean Spicer gave a rather impassioned first meet and greet with reporters when he came out visibly upset and stated: 

"... one was a particular egregious example in which a reporter falsely tweeted out that the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. After it was pointed out that this was just plain wrong, the reporter casually reported and tweeted out and tried to claim that a Secret Service agent must have just been standing in front of it. This was irresponsible and reckless."

The above was the main reason Spicer was upset, but the popular narrative was that he was mad about the crowd size controversy only. That's simply not the case. I don't blame him and others for being upset about either one, however. The media knows what impact saying something, anything to make Trump look racist, will have and the person who tweeted it out, Zeke Miller, was forced to make a rather tepid apology. But the fake news didn't end there. There was of course the crowd size, here is what Spicer said:

"... secondly, photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall. This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual. This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the Mall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past."

This was true. I was actually headed down there with my daughter but had to turn around because of the moronic Antifa people who were tearing up the town. I was listening to the radio halfway there when I caught word about violence, fires beings lit and flash bangs being employed. Many couldn't make it to the lawn, because people were blocked from entering. Back to the press briefing. Sean mentioned something else:

"We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe."

For one, notice he said Obama's LAST inauguration, not the first one. Yet, the media made it sound like he was referring to 2009. Secondly, Sean said, "both in person and around the globe." Given social media and other coverage not present in 2009, the Trump inauguration most likely was the most seen around the globe. But that's not how it was portrayed. The media even showed side by side pictures. What they didn't tell you was the time was different; the Trump Inauguration photo was taken before everybody was able to get on the Mall.

Here is a photo of what it actually looked like later in the day from the Capitol:

This is was the genesis of the whole Kellyanne Conway brouhaha when she spoke with Chuck Todd about "alternative facts." Chucks' premise was that Spicer was lying, when in fact he wasn't. Spicer may have been incorrect about when the white tarp was used to protect the grass, but otherwise he was essentially correct. The American Thinker mentioned the validity of the legal term "alternative facts" as such: 

"Of particular note is the clause “provided there was plausible evidence to support both alternatives.”  In other words, two points of view may differ and still both be truthful." 

The piece went on to say:

"In conclusion, when Chuck Todd upbraids Kellyanne Conway with the claim that “alternative facts are not facts; they’re falsehoods,” he is not only wrong, but propagating an ignorance born out of lazy and shallow thinking.  But this is not surprising, really, since when it comes to telling half-truths, or presenting alternative facts, the liberal mainstream press is more notoriously guilty than any other group currently out there."

No, not surprising at all.

Sources:
1. http://thehill.com/homenews/media/315486-trump-attacks-time-report-for-mistake-about-mlk-bust
2. https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/transcript-press-secretary-sean-spicer-media-233979
3. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/02/alternative_facts_a_common_legal_term.html

No. Trump Did NOT Make Fun of A Journalist's Handicap

Fake News: Trump mocks handicapped reporter. Of all the things that President-elect Trump has said or done, or is alleged to have said or done, this is probably the worst. Fortunately, or unfortunately for those who love to hate Donald Trump, he wasn't mocking reporter Serge Kovaleski's disability, arthrogryposis. He was simply mocking him as he mocks other people. BIG difference. But, in this sense stating, "Trump mocked a disabled reporter" is not entirely false, it's just extremely misleading. Trump was simply demonstrating his rendition of somebody showing cowardice or being flustered. Picture a cartoon character shaking in fear, hands trembling, knees knocking. That's what he was doing. He even states as such. Should note, he did this referring to a non-disabled Ted Cruz, a non-disabled General, and non-disabled bank regulators. The twisted part is how the media portrayed this. I know something about video editing, so imagine if you will some guy or gal at CNN or what have you taking the raw video and pausing it at just the precise moment where Trump's hand is in a position that resembles Kovaleski's right hand. They then take a still shot of that and post it with the headline, "Trump Mocks Disabled Reporter." That's pretty twisted.

Words of caution: there will be those convinced, no matter what, that Trump did this on purpose and that he is a bully. You will show them videos and explain until you're blue in the face and it won't matter. Believe me, I've been there.

Here is a great, detailed explanation, many of you might have come across before:

https://www.catholics4trump.com/the-true-story-donald-trump-did-not-mock-a-reporters-disability/

Claim: Trump Called Mexican Immigrants Rapists and Murderers.

FALSE

Donald Trump, during his announcement for the presidency, clearly was referring to illegal immigrants from Mexico, NOT all Mexicans or Mexican immigrants. Here is his statement:

“When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. […] When Mexico sends its people they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you; they’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime... their rapists, and some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting.”

“And it only makes common sense, it only makes common sense: they’re sending us not the right people, and it’s coming from more than Mexico, it’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably, probably from the Middle East. But we don’t know because we have no protection, and we have no competence. We don’t know what’s happening. And it’s gotta stop. And it’s gotta stop fast.”

Here is how the media portrayed it:

The New York Times: “Trump’s claim that illegal Mexican immigrants are ‘rapists.”

Time Magazine: “Trump’s comment that Mexican immigrants are ‘rapists.’”

Associated Press: “Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals”

CBS News: “Trump defends calling Mexican immigrants ‘rapists.’”

L.A. Times: “describing Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists.’”

Fortune: “in a speech branding Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists.”

Hollywood Reporter: “he referred to Mexican immigrants as ‘rapists.’”

Huffington Post: “He called Latino immigrants ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists.’”

The Washington Post: “He referred to Mexicans as “rapists.”

All of the above ^ is factually incorrect.

When Mr. Trump states "they're" he is referring to the Mexican government, who has been known to allow their criminals to flock to the United States so they Mexico doesn't have to deal with them. See http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/world/americas/a-mexican-manual-for-illegal-migrants-upsets-some-in-us.html?_r=0

Trump has been on record on TV and during his rallies praising Mexican and Latino people. The following is a comment from the author, Alberto A. Martinez, of the sourced Salon article listed below:

For example, on July 6, Trump explained: “many fabulous people come in from Mexico and our country is better for it. But these people are here legally, and are severely hurt by those coming in illegally. I am proud to say that I know many hard working Mexicans—many of them are working for and with me…and, just like our country, my organization is better for it. [...] I have great respect for Mexico and love their people and their peoples’ great spirit.”

He says such things again and again, to tens of thousands of people at rallies in Texas, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nevada, Florida, California, Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, etc. Trump says: “I love the Mexican people,” they’re “great people.” He says: “they’re incredible people,” who contribute much to the US, and that “their leaders are smarter” than US politicians. He says: “Hispanics are fantastic people.” Trump proclaims “great respect” for the Mexican people and their leaders. People don’t know that he says these things because the press does not report it.

Source: http://www.salon.com/2015/12/21/the_media_needs_to_stop_telling_this_lie_about_donald_trump_im_a_sanders_supporter_and_value_honesty/