CHICAGO (AP) — Rohi Atassi was among 117 immigrants to become the newest American citizens during a Chicago naturalization ceremony, but the Syrian dentist stood out among his peers.

The 29-year-old man was unexpectedly asked to lead immigrants from 37 countries in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Federal Judge Sara Ellis, who oversaw Tuesday's ceremony, asked for a Syrian volunteer after delivering an impassioned speech about the difficulties immigrants face.

While she never specifically mentioned President Donald Trump's executive order barring immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries including Syria, Atassi said her words resonated with him.

"I'm very happy that a Syrian who just became an American had a chance to lead the pledge," he said.

He and his family have been on edge the last few weeks as he's had friends detained at airports because of the executive action, which is undergoing legal challenges. He was left wondering if his citizenship would be approved and questioning how he'd travel. His family members have mixed citizenship status: His mother is a naturalized U.S. citizen, his father has a green card and his fiancee is U.S. born with Syrian roots.

Atassi, who's had a green card for a decade, has watched his birthplace of Aleppo destroyed by years of war.

"The Syrian people are already victims," he said. "All these people are running from terrorism."
During the ceremony, Ellis talked about her own experiences of becoming a U.S. citizen and judge. Her family is from Jamaica and she was born in Canada. Ellis was nominated to the post in 2013 by former President Barack Obama. Her office declined to elaborate on Tuesday's ceremony, saying only that she usually asks a new American to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

As for Atassi, his first orders of business were to register to vote and apply for a U.S. passport.

"I'm allowed to participate in a democracy. I'm excited to experience it," he said, adding that he was encouraged by the supportive atmosphere of the ceremony. "When I was leaving, a few people told me, 'Congratulations, welcome home.'"

pacino wrote:she has an overall favorable rating when polled. it's been pretty consistently +2 to 3 nationwide. she's been one of the more known senators for the past several years so she has a *relatively* low unknown compared to your average senator.

pacino wrote:ivanka trump

drsmooth wrote:Tom Udall reads Mrs King's letter on the senate floor, without rebuke.

That should be good for Rs rep among women.

Is it really Rs long-term strategy to count on winning elections via alienating voter populations, vote suppression, and procedural gymnastics? Feels kind of like if a business attempted to build long-term success by focusing exclusively on cost-cutting. Hey, you really want to cut costs? Stop doing anything.

drsmooth wrote:Now other senators are reading Mrs. King's letter on the Senate floor. Un-rebuked.

Why is McConnell so afraid of Senator Warren?

South Carolina regulators on Tuesday rejected an effort by the Trump Organization to limit its environmental cleanup liabilities at an industrial site once owned by President Trump’s eldest son.

The decision is a rebuke of the Trump Organization and could result in millions of dollars in added costs for the company. It followed a refusal by the organization to provide regulators with required information about business and financial relationships between the president and his son Donald Trump Jr.

The Trump Organization had no immediate comment.

The issue grew out of the younger Mr. Trump’s involvement in Titan Atlas Manufacturing, a company that he helped start in 2010 in North Charleston, S.C., and that failed two years later.

In 2014, Donald J. Trump, while he was still running the Trump Organization, bailed out his son, who was then facing payment of a $3.65 million bank loan to Titan Atlas. The elder Mr. Trump created an entity called D B Pace, which took over the loan and the six-acre Titan Atlas site.

To qualify for such protection, however, the buyer of a contaminated property must not be affiliated with a former owner or have had earlier involvement with the site. The safeguard is in place to prevent polluters from evading their legal responsibilities.

Had the application gone through, the Trump Organization’s costs would have probably been minimal because its environmental obligations would have been limited to controlling the spread of existing pollution on the property. But now, it is likely to be legally responsible for pollution at the site caused by Titan Atlas.

The decision by the Trump Organization appears to reflect a financial gamble that any environmental costs from the Titan Atlas site might be less than the financial damages it could face by disclosing ties between D B Pace and Titan Atlas.

D B Pace has taken the position in a $4.5 million lawsuit brought by a former tenant at the Titan Atlas warehouse that Donald Trump Jr. had nothing to do with the building’s management. However, court papers show that the younger Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, the lawyer, repeatedly rejected requests from the tenant to fix the building’s leaky roof unless the tenant extended its lease.

slugsrbad wrote:Nothing to see here, just the President of the United States advocating for his daughter's business ventures while her husband serves as a close adviser. Nothing to see, nothing to see.