Donald Trump pummeled Baltimore years ago in a series of tweets — but back then he held Barack Obama responsible for the city’s crime, pointing out that he was an “African American president” and sarcastically referring to him as “great.”
Shortly after Freddie Gray died after sustaining injuries while being transported in a Baltimore police vehicle in 2015, Trump urged Obama in tweets to do what’s right and “bring both sides together” to aid the city. Or, Trump suggested, he himself could be dropped into Baltimore to “show Obama how it’s done” and “fix it fast.”
Canada’s Federal Court had been asked to rule in the case of David Kattenburg, the child of Holocaust survivors who disagreed with a decision by the Canadian government’s Food Inspection Agency to allow the labels.
Kattenburg, who criticized Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, argued that such labeling “facilitates Israel’s de facto annexation of large portions of the West Bank,” according to the court ruling.
The CFIA had defended its usage for the wines made in the West Bank settlements by citing the free trade agreement between Canada and Israel.
That move was backed by Canada’s attorney general, who said it was reasonable to refer back to the free trade agreement, given that the Palestinian territory is “not part of a recognized country,” and such a label would meet Canadian requirements.
But Judge Anne Mactavish said because “there is no dispute that the settlements in which the wines are produced are not part of the territory of the State of Israel,” she was finding for Kattenburg.
“Identifying the wines as ‘Products of Israel’ is false, misleading and deceptive and interferes with the ability of Canadian consumers to make informed and rational decisions to buy conscientiously,” she said.
“Individuals opposed to the creation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank need accurate information as to the origins of a product to be able to express their opposition,” she added.
“Incorrectly identifying the wines as ‘Products of Israel’ inhibits the ability of consumers to express their political views through their purchasing choices” and limits their freedom of expression, she said.
Mactavish said the CFIA will have to determine how to label the wines.
In 2015, the European Union approved guidelines for member states to include the phrase “Israeli settlement” on labels of products from Jewish enclaves in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, all of which were occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Donald Trump characterised Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore-based congressional district as a “rodent infested mess” where “no human” would want to live, in a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday.
His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited with hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide sub-standard housing to lower income tenants.
In an interview on Saturday, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr condemned Mr Trump’s comments as “an attack on basic decency”.
“It is certainly ironic that the president’s own son-in-law was complicit in contributing to some of the neglect that the president purports to be so concerned about,” Mr Olszewski, a Democrat, added.
Kushner Companies, which started operating in Maryland in 2013, has owned almost 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes, many of them in Baltimore County, the Baltimore Sun reported earlier this year.
The properties generate at least $90m (£72m) in revenue annually. Mr Kushner stepped down as CEO of the company in 2017, when he became a senior White House advisor.
A company spokesperson did not address questions on Sunday about whether the group agreed with Mr Trump’s characterisation of the area, but wrote: “Kushner Companies is proud to own thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area.”
In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos were responsible for more than 200 code violations, all accrued in the span of the calendar year.
Repairs were made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions.
In an investigation by the New York Times and Pro Publica published earlier that year, tenants of Kushner Cos properties reported mouse infestations, mould problems and maggots.
A private investigator who looked into Mr Kusher’s property management company, Westminster Management, described them as “slumlords”.
Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of both plagues and of healing. She giveth, she taketh away.
This was kind of experimental but it was fun and I think it worked well. I look forward to doing more like it. This piece has tentatively found a home pending payment but I can do customs like it
