Some joined the GOP precisely because of the racism.
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And Spanky is still defending those many fine people with torches shouting âJews will not replace us!â at the steps of a Charlottesville synagogue.
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Ilhan Omar takes Trumpâs Venezuela envoy to task over his political past
âI am not going to respond to that question,â Elliott Abrams said after being grilled on foreign policies that destabilized Latin America
Ilhan Omar takes Trump's Venezuela envoy to task over his political past | US Congress | The Guardian
Abrams worked as an assistant secretary of state for human rights and assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs in the Reagan administration, at a time US foreign policy in Latin America destabilized the region. He was widely criticized for shrugging off reports about the massacre of a thousand men, women and children by US-funded death squads in El Salvador.
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Yeah, Trump and Pence have no control over Congress. It probably bugs the snot out of them, which is why Iâm smiling. I hope thatâs not wrong.
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I think this is more about rubbing salt in the wound. King has never apologized, never will apologize, and it was precisely his refusal to apologize that finally led, after 13 years, to him being stripped of committee assignments.
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as a jew, itâs really hard to see the amount of bull that the previous generation is spouting about anti-semitism. There wasnât this much attention paid to Steve King, at all.
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and if Omar was a white christian balding male and made the same comment, what⌠crickets from the Gross Old Pervert party?
whoâs bigotry is showing?
anyone else also recognize the repube outrage machine reving up since January? false equivalency much?
seems like a portion of the media are buying in, but with all of the hippocracy meters being broken over the last two years, and tRUmp the lie-o-matic cranking it out for even longer, it has the feel that the bullshit wonât stick with the majority of the nation, seems to be a solid 55-35 split in this nation, and few will change sides without some serious driver behind it
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I thought JMâs post on the topic of Omarâs tweet threaded the needle pretty astutely, but it is beyond the pale to compare Omar to Steve King. However effective it is rhetorically, it is all kinds of wrong to do so substantively.
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One of the many things I love about Speaker Pelosi is that she defends her people, specifically in the face of unfair criticism like this case.
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Oi. I remember the first run of The Producers.
Can we please stop mentioning Representative Omar and Steve King in the same breath?
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Yes. And itâs because she has a real and fully identifiable spine. Always did.
@av8r I agree totally and have said as much since the outset of this Republican-staged drama. But Pelosi making the comparison she did is apt. Someone has to call them out on the ludicrousness of their posturing. And thatâs what she was most importantly doing: comparing Democratic response to Republican response, not comparing Omar to King.
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âIt Took Them, What, 13 Years To Notice Steve King?â
Democrats have to do better than this. Implicit in this response from Pelosi, while generally in the right direction, is a comparison of Omar with King, which is wrong. The problem, as I see it, is that elected Dems just can not bring themselves explicitly and publicly to insult and mock Trump and other Republicans. It is easy to do. It is a winning strategy. I hope they figure it out.
Pelosiâs figured it out and sheâs been doing it. In her own style. She uses a rapier, not a broadsword, and she doesnât favor long-winded diatribes, never has. Itâs just who she is and this comment was in that vein.
Which is not to say I disagree that Democrats need to take control of the narrative. But I think that has started to happen, and Pelosi has been the cause of it. This Omar kerfuffle is just a minor setback. Or I hope it is. The Republicans are already formulating Trumpâs 2020 campaign, floating their trial balloons to see which fake issues gin up the requisite fear and hate. So we do need to keep answering them on these fake issues. Relentlessly.
ETA: I also think Pelosi was put in an untenable position by the members of her caucus who spoke out against Omar and even went so far as to imply that Pelosi was sanctioning anti-semitism. This whole Republican orchestrated mess should, I hope, serve as a lesson to the whole Democratic caucus. For different reasons, they all also need to be mindful of what they say â no less than Omar does.
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Not necessarily false equivalence, because sheâs not necessarily drawing an âequivalenceâ. More like a fortiori.
Is what Ilhan Omar said even that bad? She criticized AIPAC. AIPAC is a horrible organization that extracts billions of dollars every year from the United States treasury to prop up a corrupt, right-wing Israeli government. AIPAC and the Netanyahu govât should be criticized.
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No comment
Pro-Israel donors spent over $22m on lobbying and contributions in 2018
The data examined by the Guardian suggests that the pro-Israel lobby is highly active and spends heavily to influence US policy
Pro-Israel donors spent over $22m on lobbying and contributions in 2018 | Super Pacs | The Guardian
Omar incorrectly suggested Aipac makes campaign contributions to candidates. However, records show it did spend about $3.5m lobbying during the 2018 election cycle. In total, pro-Israel lobbying groups spent about $5m in 2018, the highest tally since tracking began in 1998.
Separately, pro-Israeli foreign agents registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which can include lobbyists working on behalf of the Israeli government, companies, political parties and other organizations spent about $46.3m in 2017 and 2018, behind only Japan and South Korea. However, only about $2.1m of that total funded political activity, while $44.2m was dedicated to tourism and other industries.
Pro-Israel groups and individuals also contributed just under $15m to US politiciansâ campaigns during the 2018 cycle, the highest amount since the 1990 cycle. The J Street Pac, a progressive, pro-Israel lobby that advocates for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, contributed the most at $4.03m. The nonpartisan NorPAC contributed $1.1m, while the Republican Jewish Coalition contributed about $502,000.
The pro-Israel lobbyâs contributions reach a majority of US politicians. In 2018, it spent money on 269 representativesâ and 57 senatorsâ campaigns, and gave to Democrats at a two to one ratio.
Among the top 2018 recipients were: New Jersey Democrat senator Bob Menendez, $548,507; Republican Texas senator Ted Cruz, $352,894; Democratic Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, $230,342; Democratic Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin, $229,896; and Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, Beto OâRourke, who received $226,690.
Democratic leaders who criticized Omar and demanded an apology also receive a high level of contributions from the pro-Israel lobby. Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on which Omar sits, received $1.07m from the pro-Israel lobby during his career, more than heâs received from any other industry. In a Tuesday statement, he said â⌠itâs shocking to hear a Member of Congress invoke the anti-Semitic trope of âJewish money.ââ
Meanwhile, the pro-Israel lobby has contributed $514,000 to Pelosi throughout her career and itâs given $1.02m to Hoyer.
Itâs also highly likely that thereâs far more pro-Israel lobby money flowing into American politics than is tracked. Dark money nonprofits arenât required to disclose their donors, and Open Secrets doesnât fully track how mega-donors spend their cash. For example, Sheldon Adelson, the largest overall donor in 2018, gave $250,000 to the Republican Coalition Jewish Victory Fund, but that donation isnât factored into any of Open Secretsâ other contribution and lobbying tallies.