#kamala mcdaniels

[swanlake1998]

dylan santos, amanda smith, christopher mcdaniel, and kamala mcdaniels with virginia johnson photographed for the ny times by nate palmer

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

→ And how are the Jews? Haverford College students held an on-campus event about how Jews are behind Covid in Palestine: “COVID in Times of Genocide: How Israel uses COVID as a Tool for Settler Colonialism in Palestine.” The University of Michigan had to end an honors convocation ceremony amid protests for the university being, I don’t know, Zionist? The president of the main pro-Palestine group on campus wrote: “Until my last breath, I will utter death to every single individual who supports the Zionist state. Death and more. Death and worse.”

And in a Berkeley City Council meeting about Holocaust Remembrance Day, protesters interrupted to chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and to call the council members “money suckers” and “Zio pigs.” One woman screamed at the council: “You are traitors to this country. You are spies for Israel.” Wow! That’s some spirited Anti-Zionism and Definitely Not Antisemitism right there! 

In a surprise to no one reading this site, support for Israel’s war against Hamas is falling: 

New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman called the idea of Hamas raping Israelis “a lie.” And then in a great new blood libel from NPR, the taxpayer-funded media nonprofit celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim, a story of a Jewish queen saving the people and getting the king to agree to let them defend themselves against would-be genociders. How did NPR celebrate? By connecting it to the modern war against Hamas—and guess what, NPR says it’s bad that the Jews survived in the Purim story and that Jews are fighting Hamas now. 

[madamlaydebug]

Black History Month, first launched in 1926, is the annual celebration of the achievements of Black Americans, and a time to recognize their central contributions to U.S. history. Today we celebrate some historic firsts in Black history from Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first African American woman to seek the Presidential nomination to Jackie Robinson, the first Black American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, to many others who broke the color barrier. Link in bio. #BlackHistoryMonth

📷Image 1: Shirley Chisholm

📷Image 2: Jackie Robinson

📷Image 3: Hattie McDaniel

📷Image 4: Thurgood Marshall

📷Image 5: Althea Gibson

📷Image 6: Shawna Kimbrell

📷Image 7: Kamala Harris

[rebeleden]

Watch "Black Ballerina brings traffic to a halt with photoshoot in NYC | ISSA KHARI PHOTOGRAPHY #shorts" on YouTube

WOW

[thexander2020]

American Patriotism is becoming a unicorn patroness and the only way MAGA will learn is the hard way. Honestly, Im surprised they are allowed to speak their NAZI holocaust denying adjacent rhetoric where they mark in khakis and white t-shirts with Walmart tiki torches chanting "The Jews will not replace us" as if that's some huge revelation or that their march in the middle of nowhere is going to prevent that. I think nature and evolution will take care of that. Jews are like 2% of the population and the white Americans are 70% so I doubt they are replacing anyone.

Yet, here we are. Trump has lost his first indictment for the civil case. Then he got indicted on 37 accounts for literally taking nuclear codes, significant military top secret intelligence on USA strategies, field intelligence, and defense. He sold us out to the highest bidder and they were on the toilet in one of his bathrooms? Mar a Lago became a merry go round for foreign nationals and I dont like it very much.

In fact, I've never really liked him. Except circa 2011 when he was still a tacky gold one hit wonder. It was like a straight Liberace threw up King Midas on accident everywhere Ronald McDaniels Donald went.

But they were like 3 parts to an evil axis of powers determined to set the next 16+ years - 4 years = 12 years of terror upon us. Let use not be coy in thinking for the next cycle of who WHO WANTS TO BE AMERICAS NEXT TOP BOTTOM. We are down to the finals for the GOP and the DNC. The DNC appear to be going with Old Faithful, much to the chagrin of the progressive alliance. Thats only assuming they don't need Gavin doesn't need to step in with his Chariot. Where the hell did he come from anyway. Oh geez, another faux prog in liberal left of center sheets...errr, sheeps clothing. If he's president we will be sipping air through a measured oxygen mask and taxed on the carbon our body admits.

Then there's poor Kamala and Kevin, sitting in a tree, kissing, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Kevin is not president material, but their plan is see through. Keep their slim majority in the house, they could have won bigger. and regain the Senate with Turkey Knecktucky as the Leader and 'Schmegle Gram or Ounce' was like..."see I knew we would get there, now lets impeach the son of a bitch. they wont know what hit em. or I could do Avadacadavra on him and be jk Rowling all the way to the bank."

[laguaridadelnagual]

Anuncia Biden candidatura para reelección en 2024

El presidente de Estados Unidos se enfrenta a un camino sin problemas para ganar la nominación de su partido, sin rivales demócratas serios   El presidente Joe Biden anunció formalmente que se postulará a la reelección en 2024, pidiendo a los votantes que le den más tiempo para “terminar este trabajo” que comenzó cuando prestó juramento en el cargo y dejar de lado sus preocupaciones sobre la extensión de la carrera del presidente más antiguo de Estados Unidos por otros cuatro años. “Cada generación tiene un momento en el que ha tenido que defender la democracia. Defender sus libertades fundamentales”, dice Biden en el video del anuncio, publicado en sus redes sociales. “Creo que este es el nuestro. Por eso me presento a la reelección como presidente de Estados Unidos. Únanse a nosotros. Terminemos el trabajo”, agrega. Biden, quien tendrá 86 años al final de un segundo mandato, está apostando a que sus logros legislativos en el primer mandato y más de 50 años de experiencia en Washington contarán para más que preocupaciones sobre su edad. El video abre con imágenes de la violenta invasión de partidarios del expresidente republicano Donald Trump (2017-2021) al Capitolio -sede del Congreso- el 6 de enero de 2021 y de protestas contra la abolición del derecho al aborto, entre otras, y muestra además a Biden junto a la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris en diferentes situaciones. Biden se enfrenta a un camino sin problemas para ganar la nominación de su partido, sin rivales demócratas serios. Pero todavía está listo para una lucha dura para mantener la presidencia en una nación amargamente dividida. El anuncio, en un video de tres minutos, se produce en el aniversario de cuatro años de cuando Biden se declaró por la Casa Blanca en 2019, prometiendo sanar el “alma de la nación” en medio de la turbulenta presidencia de Donald Trump, un objetivo que ha permanecido difícil de alcanzar. La oposición republicana ya hizo sus primeros cuestionamientos a su candidatura, al afirmar que está “desconectado” de la realidad. “Biden está tan desconectado de la realidad que piensa que merece cuatro años más en el poder, cuando lo único que hace es crear una crisis atrás de otra”, afirmó la jefa del partido, Ronna McDaniel, tras el anuncio. Una encuesta de la red NBC divulgada el fin de semana determinó que 70 por ciento de los estadounidenses, incluido 51 por ciento de los demócratas, creen que Biden no debía postularse.   PARTIDO UNIFICADO Ante esos cuestionamientos, a Biden le gusta responder “Mírenme”. Es una forma de decir que los votantes deben enfocarse en sus victorias políticas domésticas y su conformación de una alianza occidental sin precedentes para ayudar a Ucrania ante la invasión lanzada por Rusia en febrero de 2022. En el próximo año y medio, Biden tendría la ventaja de estar en el poder, con su partido unificado, mientras que los republicanos apenas comienzan una compleja elección primaria. La fecha del martes no fue escogida al azar para anunciar su postulación. Corresponde al cuarto aniversario del inicio de la campaña que le dio la victoria frente a Trump. El magnate de 76 años también es candidato a la nominación republicana para las presidenciales de 2024 y tiene posibilidades de ganarlas pese a haber sido procesado por un tribunal de Nueva York por un escándalo de un soborno a una actriz porno y de ser objeto de varias investigaciones judiciales. El lunes, Trump se apresuró a lanzar críticas al hombre que hizo descarrilar su propia ambición de repetir en la Casa Blanca. “Con una presidencia tan calamitosa y fallida, es casi inconcebible que Biden siquiera piense en postularse para la reelección”, sostuvo en un comunicado. Biden sabe que, según las encuestas, que hay que interpretar con cautela, la candidatura de Trump no entusiasma. Pero la suya tampoco. Sin embargo, el demócrata está convencido de que si logró derrotarlo una vez puede conseguirlo de nuevo gracias a su personalidad afable y su programa unificador. Queda una gran incógnita: ¿cuáles serían sus posibilidades si se enfrentara a un rival más joven en noviembre de 2024, como por ejemplo el gobernador del estado de Florida, Ron DeSantis, de 44 años? Esta estrella emergente de la derecha estadounidense más conservadora no ha presentado su candidatura aún, pero cree tener posibilidades de derrotar al demócrata. “Tengo lo necesario para ser presidente y puedo vencer a Biden”, declaró en marzo. Menos conocida, figura la republicana Nikki Haley -exembajadora estadounidense en la ONU colocada por Trump-, que ya está en campaña y llama al surgimiento de una “nueva generación” política. Halley pide, entre otras cosas, pruebas de capacidad intelectual para todos los líderes políticos mayores de 75 años. Read the full article

[busterslong]

Superheroes are everywhere

Superheroes are everywhere trial#

Louis, Missouri, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. From US Vice President Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message - superheroes are all around us, and if we try, we can all be heroes. She loves creating for books, film, art, and animation. Superhero fiction is the genre of fiction that is. Superheroes are Everywhere by Kamala Harris is a nonfiction childrens book that describes the characteristics of everyday superheroes. This gave others the super power to help people and. When we all had to wear masks everywhere, this created an expense that not everyone could easily afford. You can follow Kamala Harris on Facebook at /KamalaHarris or on Twitter Renee Roe is an artist, designer, writer, and all-around creator. A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that possesses superpowers, abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, or dedicating themselves to protecting the public and fighting crime. Superheroes save the day and you can too Superheroes Are Found Everywhere (S.A.F.E.), was started in 2020 by a 7 year old boy who saw the need to help others facing unprecedented times. She’s married to Douglas Emhoff, and loves being a stepmom to Ella and Cole. From Vice President Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us - and if we try, we can all be heroes too. Senate, and the first woman, Black person, and person of Indian descent ever to hold the office of vice president, she works hard to make sure all people have equal rights, especially kids.

Superheroes are everywhere trial#

The second Black woman and the first person of Indian descent ever elected to the U.S. Superheroes Are Everywhere Hardcover Illustrated, Januby Kamala Harris (Author), Mechal Renee Roe (Illustrator) 3,996 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle 10.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover 8.99 112 Used from 1.24 36 New from 4.99 2 Collectible from 24. Before Kamala Harris became a district attorney an. Before assuming the vice presidency, she served as a senator from California, worked in the Alameda County district attorney’s office, and was later elected district attorney of San Francisco and then Attorney General of California. Gotham Reads presents Kamala Harris, Vice President Elect, reading her book Superheroes Are Everywhere. “The City of Long Beach, in partnership with the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, has a citywide book and toy drive that is ongoing to support the migrant children who are temporarily staying in Long Beach at the US Department of Health and Human Services shelter,” Kevin Lee, a spokesperson for the city, told The Washington Post.Author Bio Kamala Harris () is the vice president of the United States of America. Now they’re forcing taxpayers to buy Kamala Harris’s book to give to those illegal immigrants?” Senator Tom Cotton fumed on Twitter.īut according to the city where the shelter is located, no one is “handing out” the books. Before Kamala Harris became a district attorney and a United States senator, she was a little girl who loved superheroes. “The Biden administration’s weakness caused a surge of illegal immigration. From Senator Kamala Harris comes a picture book memoir with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us-and if we try, we can all be heroes too. “After learning officials are handing out Kamala Harris’ book to migrants in facilities at the border, it’s worth asking… Was Harris paid for these books? Is she profiting from Biden’s border crisis?” tweeted Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Soon prominent GOP officials were repeating the story. “Harris’s children’s book Superheroes Are Everywhere is included in welcome packs for migrant children arriving at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, a recently converted influx facility,” Fox News echoed two days later. From Vice President Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us-and if we try, we can all be heroes too. From Senator Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us-and if we try, we can all be heroes too. “Unaccompanied migrant kids brought from the US-Mexico border to a new shelter in Long Beach, Calif., will be given a copy of her 2019 children’s book, ‘Superheroes are Everywhere,’ in their welcome kits,” the New York Post reported on 23 April.

[theamericanpatriotpage]

Lies only to try and get votes

Free Speech Outlaw

[swanlake1998]

kamala mcdaniels on ig

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 14, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

Today, Americans began receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Dr. Michelle Chester administered the vaccine to Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, the first American to get the vaccine. Lindsay is a Covid nurse and said she hoped seeing her get the vaccine would convince people it was safe. “I have seen the alternative, and do not want it for you,” she told the New York Times. “I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history.” The pandemic has hit Americans of color particularly hard, making it fitting that the first U.S. dose was administered by a Black doctor to a Black nurse.

Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel. But that light is still a long way away. Today we passed 300,000 official deaths from Covid-19, with well over 16 million infections. We also set a new single-day record of at least 232,369 new coronavirus cases. Outbreaks are escalating, not dropping, and the upcoming holidays threaten to spread the virus further.

There is, as well, an issue with the distribution of the vaccines. While the federal government invested in the development of the vaccine, it provided funding and a plan only to get the vaccines to the states. Getting the doses from a central point into people’s arms remains unfunded and unplanned. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services have dug into their existing budgets to find some money for states to start planning, but there is currently no money for states to distribute the vaccine, especially in light of the financial crisis caused by the pandemic. Federal funding of vaccine delivery is set to run out about February 1, just in time for it to fall into Biden’s watch.

The good news is that it appears that Congress appears be narrowing in on a coronavirus relief package. Lawmakers expect to announce a $1.4 trillion compromise measure tomorrow. The Republicans still hate the idea of state and local funding; Democrats still hate the idea of a liability shield for businesses whose workers contract the coronavirus at work. So, negotiators have split those two issues off from the items that have bipartisan support. A $748 billion bill will provide less-controversial funding for unemployment assistance, small businesses, food assistance, rental assistance, health funding, education, and transportation; and a $160 billion bill will offer local and state aid and liability protections.

Today was a big day in politics as well as in health. The Electoral College formally elected Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. president, and Kamala Devi Harris vice president. Tonight, Biden spoke to the American people. He rebuked Trump for his effort to steal the election, saying “In America, politicians don’t take power— people grant power to them.”

Biden tied today’s contest for democracy to our history. "The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing — not even a pandemic — or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame," he said. He asked Americans to move on, focusing on combatting the pandemic and rebuilding the economy.

It’s over.

But, although 62% of American voters say the election is “over and settled” and it’s “time to move on,” Trump continues to insist that he won the election. In the face of the Electoral College confirmation of Biden’s win, this position increasingly seems a ploy to raise money. Even as the Electoral College was voting, the Trump campaign filed yet another lawsuit challenging the outcome of the election. It has lost 59 of 60 court cases, and the Supreme Court last week refused to hear a case in which Trump planned to argue that mail-in voting in swing states that voted for Biden—but not the states that voted for him—injured Republican voters in Texas.

Senate Republicans, who have set the Electoral College vote as the date on which they would acknowledge Biden’s victory, are swinging behind the idea that Biden is indeed the President-Elect. But the Trump loyalists are not giving up. The state Capitols of Michigan and Wisconsin had to be closed to the public out of safety concerns before the Electoral College delegates met; the electors in Arizona had to meet in an undisclosed location. One Republican state representative in Michigan hinted at potential violence against the delegates to the Electoral College; leadership later stripped him of his committee assignments. Despite the fussing, members of Congress are expected to certify the Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021.

The Republicans’ willingness to entertain Trump’s tantrums means that, unlike most Americans, 82% of Trump voters say they think Biden’s victory is illegitimate and that Trump should refuse to concede and should do all he can to stay in power.

This was finally too much for Representative Paul Mitchell of Michigan, who announced today he was switching his affiliation from Republican to Independent. Mitchell is retiring from Congress in weeks, perhaps freeing him to speak his mind. He called out Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, for suggesting that Trump’s loss was because of Black voters in Detroit. “Ronna,” he wrote, “you know Michigan politics well.” (McDaniel is the granddaughter of former Michigan Governor George W. Romney, and served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 2015 to 2017). “Trump did not lose Michigan because of Wayne County, but rather he lost because of dwindling support in areas including Kent and Oakland County, both previous Republican strongholds.”

Mitchell called out “political candidates” who “treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote.” He warned, “If Republican leaders collectively sit back and tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories and ‘stop the steal’ rallies without speaking out for our electoral process, which the Department of Homeland Security said was ‘the most secure in American history,’ our nation will be damaged.” He condemned the “raw political considerations” that led party leaders to support the “stop the steal” efforts. He noted that members of Congress take oaths to support and defend the Constitution, not “to preserve and protect the political interests of any individual, be it the president or anyone else, to the detriment of our cherished nation.”

Tonight, just in time to disrupt the news cycle before Biden was set to address the nation, Trump announced that Attorney General William Barr is stepping down on December 23. Barr was a true loyalist, politicizing the Department of Justice to protect Trump from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, stepping in to defend Trump in a defamation suit by a woman who claimed Trump had sexually assaulted her, favoring Trump’s friends, and supporting Trump’s attack on this summer’s protesters at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. Barr’s resignation letter was full of praise for Trump, but the two men have been at odds since Barr refused to sign on to Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. On December 1, Barr told the Associated Press that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 election, thus undercutting the president’s arguments.

While the timing of the resignation announcement seems pegged to try to upstage Biden’s win, the timing of the resignation itself might well reflect that Trump is planning some controversial pardons and Barr didn’t want to be associated with them.

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen will become the acting Attorney General.

There is one more big developing story. Yesterday, the administration admitted that hackers acting for a foreign country—almost certainly Russia—have breached many of our key government networks, including the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies related to our national security. and agencies related to our national security. Hackers apparently began to sneak malicious code into software updates for business and government computers last March. The breach has enabled them to extract information for many months.  

If indeed it was Russia that broke into our system, it will be their most sophisticated break-in since 2014 and 2015, when operatives broke into unclassified email systems in the White House, State Department, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then went on to hack the Democratic National Committee. The recent hack was so serious the National Security Council, which advises the president about national security, military affairs, and foreign affairs, had an emergency meeting about it on Saturday.

—-

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

[madamlaydebug]

Black History Month, first launched in 1926, is the annual celebration of the achievements of Black Americans, and a time to recognize their central contributions to U.S. history. Today we celebrate some historic firsts in Black history from Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress and the first African American woman to seek the Presidential nomination to Jackie Robinson, the first Black American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, to many others who broke the color barrier. Link in bio. #BlackHistoryMonth

Image 1: Shirley Chisholm

Image 2: Jackie Robinson

Image 3: Hattie McDaniel

Image 4: Thurgood Marshall

Image 5: Althea Gibson

Image 6: Shawna Kimbrell

Image 7: Kamala Harris

[nwonitro]

JIMMY HART AND THE FIRST FAMILY

Jimmy Hart’s original first family came into being in the Memphis territory as a faction to oppose Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee. The group lasted from 1981 to 1985, with Hart being the only constant member. The exploits of the First Family are documented here in the Memphis Classics series.

Memphis: Len Denton, Norvell Austin, Ox Baker, King Kong Bundy, Sabu the Wildman, Dennis Condrey, Chick Donovan, Bobby Eaton, Wayne Farris, Buddy Landel, Austin Idol, Masao Ito, Kamala, Hulk Hogan, Gypsy Joe, The Angel, The Turk, El Toro, Andy Kaufman, Larry Latham, Kendo Nagasaki, Iranian Assassin, Jim Neidhart, Lanny Poffo, Iron Sheik, Kevin Sullivan, Russian Invader, Dream Machine, Mad Dog Boyd, Porkchop Cash, Tony Anthony, Koko Ware, Plowboy Frazier, Tommy Rich, Randy Savage, Rick Rude, Miss Angel, Eddie Gilbert and The Nightmares.

Georgia: Wahoo McDaniel, Eddie Gilbert, New York Assassins, King Kong Bundy and Assassin #1.

WCW: Meng, Barbarian, Jerry Flynn, Brian Knobbs and Hugh Morrus.

Jimmy Hart and The First Family: We Hate School. Featuring the Iranian Assassin on drums, the Nightmare on bass and Koko B. Ware on guitar.

[blackchildrensbooksandauthors]

January 2019 New Releases

This list may not feature all of January’s new children’s and young adult releases by Black authors. Some books are paperback or revised editions.

Books:

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks

Alice Faye Duncan | Xia Gordon | PB | Sterling Children's Books | 1st

Fearless Mary: The True Adventures of Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver

Tami Charles | Claire Almo | PB | Albert Whitman & Company | 1st

The Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Hasan Davis | Alleanna Harris | PB | Capstone | 1st

Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins

Michelle Meadows | Ebony Glenn | PB | 8th

What Is Given from the Heart, Reaches the Heart

Patricia C. McKissack | April Harrison | PB | Schwartz & Wade | 8th

The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop

Carole Boston Weatherford | Frank Morrison | PB | little bee books | 8th

Superheroes Are Everywhere

Kamala Harris | Mechal Renee Roe | PB | Philomel | 8th

Jada Jones: Sleepover Scientist #3

Kelly Starling Lyons | Nneka Myers | Vanessa Brantley-Newton | Chapter Bk | 8th

Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: George and Martha Washington's Courageous Slave Who Dared to Run Away, Young Readers Edition

Erica Armstrong Dunbar | Kathleen Van Cleve | MG | Aladdin | 8th

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager  

Ben Philippe | YA | Balzer + Bray | 8th

Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America  

Ibi Zoboi | YA | Balzer + Bray | 8th

Genesis Begins Again

Alicia D. Williams | MG/YA | Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy | 15th

Hands Up!

Breanna J. McDaniel | Shane W. Evans | PB | Dial Books | 22nd

Spin

Lamar Giles | YA | Scholastic Press | 29th

Go to BCBA’s website for the full list

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If you believe BCBA provides a valuable service, please take a minute to click and  DONATE   We urgently need your support to continue to fulfill our mission and make a greater impact. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful gift!

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

There has been a debate, both in the run-up to and since last week’s launch of Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign, about his ideology and policy positions. It has two dimensions. First, people are asking whether O’Rourke actually stands for much of anything — or if his candidacy is just about his perceived charisma and electability. And second, they are asking whether he is a true liberal/progressive — or if he should be classified as a moderate (compared with the other 2020 candidates) or as a more centrist Democrat (based on his voting record in Congress).

I’m not sure how to define O’Rourke’s policy views in one word, and I’m not sure how important that is anyway. But from his 2018 Senate candidacy in Texas to his presidential campaign launch, O’Rourke has taken positions on many major issues, and some of those stances are decidedly left-wing, particularly on cultural issues. O’Rourke may not be an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-style “Super-Progressive,” but he has plenty of positions that Republicans would aggressively attack in a general election.1

Those stances from O’Rourke include:

Supporting the abolition of for-profit and private prisons.

Supporting a ban on so-called assault weapons.

Supporting the elimination of bail sentences that require people to pay money to be released from jail ahead of trial.

Criticizing not only Trump’s border wall, but also some of the existing barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border and the increase in border security spending over the last decade. (“Yes, absolutely, I’d take the wall down,” he said in February, referring to the border fencing in the El Paso region.)

Supporting the impeachment of President Trump (O’Rourke took this stance during his Senate campaign. I doubt that he will push this issue during his presidential run, but it was somewhat surprising that he adopted it last year. Other Democrats, like 2020 hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, didn’t take this stance even as they were running in more liberal states than Texas.).

Supporting a proposal to allow anyone who wants to enroll in a Medicare-like insurance plan the option to do so.

Supporting an increase of the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Supporting marijuana legalization.

Opposing the death penalty.

Supporting NFL players kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racism.

Describing himself as benefiting from “white privilege.”

This isn’t an exhaustive list or a representative sample of issues, obviously. And O’Rourke is taking some more centrist policy positions — for example, his refusal to embrace putting all Americans in a single-payer health care system puts him to the right of Bernie Sanders. O’Rourke has been somewhat cautious about the Green New Deal too, although last week he said he hadn’t “seen anything better” in terms of environmental policy ideas.

O’Rourke has also adopted some bipartisan rhetorical flourishes, emphasizing that he wants politics to be less divisive and more focused on finding common ground. And no one should ignore his fairly centrist political history. He wasn’t known as a liberal firebrand and often eschewed liberal positions during his political rise in Texas. In Congress, his voting record put him to the right of the average House Democrat in 2017-18. He was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a more centrist wing of the party.

But as I have written before, the policy promises that a candidate makes during his or her campaign are usually a better predictor of future stances than votes or positions taken well before the campaign. So O’Rourke’s more recent liberalism is important. And many of his current stances, the ones highlighted above, are decidedly not centrist.

To cherry-pick a few: Public opinion is divided on the NFL player protests, with nearly universal opposition among Republicans to kneeling. And just 17 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of Americans overall oppose the death penalty for people convicted of murder, according to a Pew Research Center poll from last year. That position doesn’t even unify Democrats, with 59 percent against the death penalty and 35 percent in favor. A 2018 Gallup poll showed similar results. Lots of white Americans think they are the ones facing discrimination, so I doubt that they will relate to O’Rourke’s white privilege comments.

I might classify O’Rourke as fairly liberal on issues around culture and identity and left-leaning but maybe not particularly liberal — compared with, say, Sanders or Elizabeth Warren — on economic issues. (Cory Booker and Kamala Harris probably fall in this camp with O’Rourke.) Part of what’s confusing in assessing O’Rourke’s ideology is that the results are different depending on what benchmark you choose. Is he liberal compared with previous Democratic presidential candidates? Yes. Is he liberal compared with the activists dominating the discourse in the party now? No.

O’Rourke’s current positioning may seem fairly politically safe in a general election (and hence not particularly progressive), but I’m not so sure that’s true. O’Rourke’s liberalism on questions of culture and race might help him woo college-educated white voters and minorities, but it might also be fodder for Trump in appealing to GOP voters, many of whom are wary of an America growing more racially diverse. Part of Trump’s success in 2016, scholars have found, was getting white voters thinking about and defending their whiteness. O’Rourke is planning a campaign that will highlight his heavily Latino hometown of El Paso and will emphasize the close ties between El Paso and neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico — the kind of multiculturalism that Trump has been attacking for years. Indeed, Republicans are already attacking him on immigration. In a tweet on Monday, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that the Texan is “one of the most extreme Democrats running,” noting his opposition to some existing border barriers.

And it’s not just O’Rourke’s pro-immigration and pro-Latino stands that would likely be heavily contested in a general election. Ted Cruz, whom O’Rourke unsuccessfully challenged in the Texas Senate race last year, highlighted O’Rourke’s defense of NFL player protests during the 2018 campaign, suggesting that the Republican thought the issue would help him more than it would help O’Rourke. And we haven’t seen a recent presidential candidate have to defend opposition to the death penalty (neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton ran for president as death penalty opponents). But O’Rourke seems to have left himself little wiggle room by saying that his stance is based on “moral grounds.”

Overall, I’m not sure how primary voters — or general election voters, if he gets that far — will perceive O’Rourke. He has a mix of traits and positions that could result in perceptions of him as fairly moderate (white, male, not supportive of single-payer health care) and traits and positions that could come off as liberal (pro-immigrant, pro-pot, anti-death penalty). “How liberal is Beto?” will likely remain a question throughout the campaign, particularly if he surges in the polls and his ideology and policy views become more relevant.

[96thdayofrage]

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are among Democrats who are being widely mocked for their silence in the wake of Jussie Smollett’s guilty verdict — after initially throwing their support behind the embattled actor.

Biden and Harris’ old tweets — including one in which the veep described the attack as a “modern day lynching” — resurfaced after the “Empire” star was convicted Thursday of staging an elaborate hate crime against himself and filing a false police report.

Immediately after Smollett claimed in 2019 that two Trump-loving bigots beat him up and tied a noose around his neck, Biden — who had yet to announce his bid for president — declared he was standing with the actor.

“What happened today to @JussieSmollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. We are with you, Jussie,” Biden tweeted in January 2019.

Harris, meanwhile, branded the ordeal a “modern day lynching.”

“@JussieSmollett is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings I know. I’m praying for his quick recovery. This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate,” Harris tweeted at the time.

US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) echoed Harris’ comments, tweeting: “The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. I’m glad he’s safe. To those in Congress who don’t feel the urgency to pass our Anti-Lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime — I urge you to pay attention.”

They were joined by a string of other liberal politicians, including “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

“There is no such thing as ‘racially charged.’ This attack was not ‘possibly’ homophobic. It was a racist and homophobic attack. If you don’t like what is happening to our country, then work to change it. It is no one’s job to water down or sugar-coat the rise of hate crimes,” AOC tweeted in January 2019 with a link to a news article about Smollett.

Tlaib tweeted the same day: “The dangerous lies spewing from the right wing is killing & hurting our people. Thinking of you @JussieSmollett, and my LGBTQ neighbors.”

The tweets, which are still up, started circulating again after Smollett’s guilty verdict was handed down as conservatives called on Biden, Harris and their colleagues to issue retractions.

“Joe Biden defended Jussie Smollett. Kamala Harris defended Jussie Smollett. Bernie Sanders defended Jussie Smollett. Elizabeth Warren defended Jussie Smollett. Those who defend a fraud are frauds themselves,” tweeted Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in the 2018 slaughter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted: “Kyle Rittenhouse, Jussie Smollett … Biden never misses an opportunity to play politics and prejudge cases before he has all the facts.”

“Jury finds Jussie Smollett guilty of five felonies for staging a fake hate crime in Chicago. Look forward to @VP’s apology for this Tweet calling what happened to Jussie a lynching. And for @JoeBiden’s apology for calling this an example of homophobia and racism,” radio host Clay Travis tweeted.

Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, sarcastically tweeting that Smollett got the justice he had been seeking.

“I’m just happy to live in a country where people will go to jail for attacking a gay black man… There’s absolutely no place for that s—t in America, or anywhere else, and I am happy the perpetrator was brought to justice,” he tweeted.