#voted against emergency funds

[ldorgan]

List of Republicans that voted against FEMA funding before Hurricane Helene hit.

https://www.newsweek.com/pro-trump-mayor-rips-counterproductive-fema-accusations-1964228

[deadpresidents]

"What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 millions people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."

-- "How Far Would He Go", TIME Magazine's interviews with Donald Trump, April 30, 2024.

I know we're saturated in coverage of Trump and it's easy (and probably better for our mental health) to usually ignore most of the articles when we see them, especially since he's so full of shit and infuriating. But it's also important to recognize that he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and he could absolutely be elected in November, and if you thought his first term was scary and dangerous, you need to understand that in a second term he's going to have people around him that are better prepared and VERY willing to do the crazy shit that he wants to do to this country. They aren't even hiding the fact that they are seeking vengeance against political opponents whom they feel have wronged them, and are ready to fundamentally dismantle the democratic foundations that are barely holding this country together after nearly 250 years.

Just look at what Trump says about the people who he incited to attack the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and halt the peaceful transfer of power that has happened every four years since 1789:

"Trump has sought to recast an insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. 'I call them the J-6 patriots,' he say. When I ask whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says, 'Yes, absolutely.' As Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including for election interference, conspiracy to defraud the United States, willful retention of national-security secrets, and falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments, he has tried to turn legal peril into a badge of honor."

Oh, and please note that Trump -- a former President of the United States and possible future President of the United States -- said on the record in these interviews with TIME: "There is a definite antiwhite feeling in the country and that can't be allowed either." We are at a point where political leaders are outright saying that in this country again, and it's because of Donald Trump.

So, take the time to recognize that Trump is straight-up telling us the country we're going to be living in if he wins again in November. And understand that your vote matters -- and WHO you vote for matters -- because, as I've been saying for years now, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES.

[saddayfordemocracy]

How the Watermelon Became a Symbol of Palestinian Solidarity

The use of the watermelon as a Palestinian symbol is not new. It first emerged after the Six-day War in 1967, when Israel seized control of the West Bank and Gaza, and annexed East Jerusalem. At the time, the Israeli government made public displays of the Palestinian flag a criminal offense in Gaza and the West Bank. 

To circumvent the ban, Palestinians began using the watermelon because, when cut open, the fruit bears the national colors of the Palestinian flag—red, black, white, and green.  

The Israeli government didn't just crack down on the flag. Artist Sliman Mansour told The National in 2021 that Israeli officials in 1980 shut down an exhibition at 79 Gallery in Ramallah featuring his work and others, including Nabil Anani and Issam Badrl. “They told us that painting the Palestinian flag was forbidden, but also the colors were forbidden. So Issam said, ‘What if I were to make a flower of red, green, black and white?’, to which the officer replied angrily, ‘It will be confiscated. Even if you paint a watermelon, it will be confiscated,’” Mansour told the outlet.

Israel lifted the ban on the Palestinian flag in 1993, as part of the Oslo Accords, which entailed mutual recognition by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization and were the first formal agreements to try to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The flag was accepted as representing the Palestinian Authority, which would administer Gaza and the West Bank.

In the wake of the accords, the New York Times nodded to the role of watermelon as a stand-in symbol during the flag ban. “In the Gaza Strip, where young men were once arrested for carrying sliced watermelons—thus displaying the red, black and green Palestinian colors—soldiers stand by, blasé, as processions march by waving the once-banned flag,” wrote Times journalist John Kifner.

In 2007, just after the Second Intifada, artist Khaled Hourani created The Story of the Watermelon for a book entitled Subjective Atlas of Palestine. In 2013, he isolated one print and named it The Colours of the Palestinian Flag, which has since been seen by people across the globe.

The use of the watermelon as a symbol resurged in 2021, following an Israeli court ruling that Palestinian families based in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem would be evicted from their homes to make way for settlers.

The watermelon symbol today:

In January, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gave police the power to confiscate Palestinian flags. This was later followed by a June vote on a bill to ban people from displaying the flag at state-funded institutions, including universities. (The bill passed preliminary approval but the government later collapsed.)

In June, Zazim, an Arab-Israeli community organization, launched a campaign to protest against the ensuing arrests and confiscation of flags. Images of watermelons were plastered on to 16 taxis operating in Tel Aviv, with the accompanying text reading, “This is not a Palestinian flag.”

“Our message to the government is clear: we will always find a way to circumvent any absurd ban and we will not stop fighting for freedom of expression and democracy,” said Zazim director Raluca Ganea. 

Amal Saad, a Palestinian from Haifa who worked on the Zazim campaign, told Al-Jazeera they had a clear message: “If you want to stop us, we’ll find another way to express ourselves.”

Words courtesy of BY ARMANI SYED / TIME

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week.

January 19-26 2024

The Energy Department announced its pausing all new liquefied natural gas export facilities. This puts a pause on export terminal in Louisiana which would have been the nation's largest to date. The Department will use the pause to study the climate impact of LNG exports. Environmentalists cheer this as a major win they have long pushed for.

The Transportation Department announced 5 billion dollars for new infrastructure projects. The big ticket item is 1 billion dollars to replace the 60 year old Blatnik Bridge between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota which has been dangerous failing since 2017. Other projects include $600 million to replace the 1-5 bridge between Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, $427 million for the first offshore wind terminal on the West Coast, $372 million to replace the 90 year old Sagamore Bridge that connects Cape Cod to the mainland,$300 million for the Port of New Orleans, and $142 million to fix the I-376 corridor in Pittsburgh.

the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access announced new guidance that requires insurance companies must cover contraceptive medications under the Affordable Care Act. The Biden Administration also took actions to make sure contraceptive medications would be covered under Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. HHS has launched a program to educate all patients about their rights to emergency abortion medical care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act. This week marks 1 year since President Biden signed a Presidential Memorandum seeking to protect medication abortion and all federal agencies have reported on progress implementing it.

A deal between Democrats and Republicans to restore the expand the Child Tax Credit cleared its first step in Congress by being voted out of the House Ways and Means Committee. The Child Tax Credit would affect 16 million kids in the first year and lift 400,000 out of poverty. The Deal also includes an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit which will lead to 200,000 new low income rental units being built, and also tax relief to people affected by natural disasters

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted for a bill to allow President Biden to seize $5 billion in Russian central bank assets. Biden froze the assets at the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine, but under this new bill could distribute these funds to Ukraine, Republican Rand Paul was the only vote against.

The Senate passed the "Train More Nurses Act" seeking to address the critical national shortage of nurses. It aims to increase pathways for LPNs to become RNs as well as a review of all nursing programs nationally to see where improvements can be made

3 more Biden Judges were confirmed, bring the total number of Judges appointed by President Biden to 171. For the first time in history the majority of federal judge nominees have not been white men. Biden has also appointed Public Defenders and civil rights attorneys breaking the model of corporate lawyers usually appointed to life time federal judgeships

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

"Russia, Russia, Russia. It's always Russia!"

October 9, 2024

Robert B. Hubbell

On a day of major political stories, the Earth is reminding us that we are guests on this planet subject to our collective good behavior over the long term. Hurricane Milton is threatening Florida like no other storm in the last century. Millions are (wisely) evacuating in the face of strong winds and a record storm surge that will inundate coastal areas.

Two months ago, Trump joked about human-caused climate change creating “more beachfront property.” In 2021, 175 House Republicans and 35 Senate Republicans voted to defund FEMA. See MTN News, A Whopping 175 House Republicans Voted Against FEMA Funding in 2021. Many of those lawmakers are now criticizing FEMA for being overwhelmed and under-resourced. Last week, Speaker Mike Johnson refused to call a special session of the House to enact emergency supplemental funding for FEMA.

Jokes aside, the substantive policy of the Republican Party is to promote fossil fuels and undermine green energy. See Center for American Progress, Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Global Climate Action. One of Trump's first acts in 2017 was to serve notice that the US would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords, and one of Joe Biden’s first acts was to rescind that notice. If Trump is re-elected, we should expect that Trump will again seek to withdraw from global efforts to fight human-caused climate change. See NBC News, Mike Johnson won't commit to bringing House back before the election for more hurricane relief.

The weather is not the climate and record-breaking weather events are not (in themselves) climate change. But acceleration in global climate trends over time are evidence of human caused climate change. Indeed, the tendency of hurricanes to rapidly increase in intensity—like Hurricane Milton—is part of a new trend in hurricane behavior. See NBC News, Hurricane Milton's rapid intensification is part of a climate-fueled trend.  

Climate change is maddeningly difficult because its effects are difficult to track—until they are not. We may be living through one of those moments in which the effects of climate change are undeniably manifest. The question facing us is whether we have the capacity to maintain our concern and sense of urgency after the water has receded and the news crews have moved to the next breaking story. We need the ability to engage in long-term thinking and the patience to allow solutions to work over decades (or longer).

Many worthy and effective organizations are focused on fighting human-caused climate change. I have previously endorsed and appeared before Third Act, an organization started by Bill McKibben. Third Act describes itself as “a community of Americans over sixty determined to change the world for the better. Third Act harnesses an unparalleled generational power to safeguard our climate and democracy.” Check out Third Act—or highlight your climate focused organization in the Comments section.

In the meantime, my wife and I express our concern and empathy for the hundreds of thousands of Floridians affected by Hurricane Milton. Be safe and follow the guidance of authorities!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[simply-ivanka]

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, the first and only Ukrainian-born member of Congress, emerged early on as a natural advocate for supporting her native country in its war with Russia. But when $61 billion in additional support for the war effort came up for a vote in the House recently, she voted against it.

Instead she has called for better oversight of U.S. funds and opposed giving “blank checks” to the Ukrainian cause. She says U.S. border security should be a bigger priority.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Knefel at MMFA:

Several right-wing organizations known mostly for opposing abortion, immigration, and trans rights are also involved in supporting and funding election denial groups, a sign of the issue’s centrality to the MAGA movement.

Following former President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020 and subsequent attempts to remain in power, a complicated and sprawling web of organizations emerged to sow doubt about future elections and spread debunked and baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud. Stringing these overlapping efforts together is the Only Citizens Vote Coalition, an umbrella organization connecting state and national election denial efforts with the broader right-wing policy ecosystem. These groups also significantly overlap with Project 2025, an effort organized by The Heritage Foundation to provide the next Republican presidential administration with staffing and policy recommendations.  Even as early as March 2021, mere months after Trump’s multifaceted effort to reverse the 2020 election, socially conservative groups began pouring money into election denial initiatives. That trend has only accelerated in the intervening years, with a host of anti-civil rights groups — often euphemistically characterized as engaged in the “culture wars” — having expanded their operations to include so-called election integrity.

These groups include the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the anti-trans American Principles Project, a fund run by Hobby Lobby founder David Green, and high-profile right-wing charities National Christian Charitable Foundation and Christian Community Foundation, among others.  One of the primary myths that the election denial movement has spread this cycle concerns noncitizen voting, which experts agree is exceedingly rare. This manufactured scandal synthesizes two key pillars of the MAGA movement — demonizing immigrants and claiming that elections are rigged against right-wing candidates. The partners listed in the Only Citizens Vote Coalition include anti-immigrant groups the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Immigration Accountability Project, illustrating how election denial groups have incorporated nativism into their movement. Both FAIR and IAP have strong links to the Tanton network, named after John Tanton, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to as the “the racist architect of the modern anti-immigrant movement.”

Right-wing anti-civil rights organizations are going all-in on pushing the nonexistent “noncitizen voter” canard.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive (Daily updates!)

By DEVI SHASTRI

A regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board.

Southwest District Health appears to be the first in the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health department.

While policymakers in Texas banned health departments from promoting COVID vaccines and Florida’s surgeon general bucked medical consensus to recommend against the vaccine, governmental bodies across the country haven’t blocked the vaccines outright.

“I’m not aware of anything else like this,” said Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. She said health departments have stopped offering the vaccine because of cost or low demand, but not based on “a judgment of the medical product itself.”

The six-county district along the Idaho-Oregon border includes three counties in the Boise metropolitan area. Demand for COVID vaccines in the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 so far in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the highest childhood vaccination exemption rate in the nation, and last year, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10.

On Oct. 22, the health department’s board voted 4-3 in favor of the ban — despite Southwest’s medical director testifying to the vaccine’s necessity.

“Our request of the board is that we would be able to carry and offer those (vaccines), recognizing that we always have these discussions of risks and benefits,” Dr. Perry Jansen said at the meeting. “This is not a blind, everybody-gets-a-shot approach. This is a thoughtful approach.”

Opposite Jansen’s plea were more than 290 public comments, many of which called for an end to vaccine mandates or taxpayer funding of the vaccines, neither of which are happening in the district. At the meeting, many people who spoke are nationally known for making the rounds to testify against COVID vaccines, including Dr. Peter McCullough, a Texas cardiologist who sells “contagion emergency kits” that include ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — drugs that have not been approved to treat COVID-19 and can have dangerous side effects.

Board Chairman Kelly Aberasturi was familiar with many of the voices who wanted the ban, especially from earlier local protests of pandemic measures.

Aberasturi, who told The Associated Press that he’s skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and national public health leaders, said in the meeting and in an interview with the AP that he was supportive of but “disappointed” in the board’s decision.

He said the board had overstepped the relationship between patients and their doctors — and possibly opened a door to blocking other vaccines or treatments.

Board members in favor of the decision argued people can get vaccinated elsewhere, and that providing the shots was equivalent to signing off on their safety. (Some people may be reluctant to get vaccinated or boosted because of misinformation about the shots despite evidence that they’re safe and have saved millions of lives.)

The people getting vaccinated at the health department — including people without housing, people who are homebound and those in long-term care facilities or in the immigration process — had no other options, Jansen and Aberasturi said.

“I’ve been homeless in my lifetime, so I understand how difficult it can be when you’re ... trying to get by and get ahead,” Aberasturi said. “This is where we should be stepping in and helping.

“But we have some board members who have never been there, so they don’t understand what it’s like.”

State health officials have said that they “recommend that people consider the COVID-19 vaccine.” Idaho health department spokesperson AJ McWhorter declined to comment on “public health district business,” but noted that COVID-19 vaccines are still available at community health centers for people who are uninsured.

Aberasturi said he plans to ask at the next board meeting if the health department can at least be allowed to vaccinate older patients and residents of long-term care facilities, adding that the board is supposed to be caring for the “health and well-being” of the district’s residents. “But I believe the way we went about this thing is we didn’t do that due diligence.”

[oldgayjew]

Do you recall some of Trump's rants?

‘Vengeful’ Trump withheld disaster aid and will do so again, ex-officials warn

Former administration officials say Trump deliberately denied funds to states he deemed politically hostile

Donald Trump deliberately withheld disaster aid to states he deemed politically hostile to him as US president and will do so again unimpeded if he returns to the White House, several former Trump administration officials have warned.

As Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton have ravaged much of the south-eastern US in the past two weeks, Trump has sought to pin blame upon Joe Biden’s administration for a ponderous response to the disasters, even suggesting that this was deliberate due to the number of Republican voters affected by the storms.

Former Trump administration officials have said the former president, when in office, initially refused to release federal disaster aid for wildfires in California in 2018, withheld wildfire assistance for Washington state in 2020, and severely restricted emergency relief to Puerto Rico in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017 because he felt these places were not sufficiently supportive of him.

The revelations, first reported upon by E&E News, have raised major doubts over what Trump’s response to disasters would be should he win next month’s presidential election. The former president has already been criticized for his role in spreading misinformation about Helene and Milton that has allegedly slowed the disaster response and even led to online death threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) staff and metorologists.

“Trump absolutely didn’t want to give aid to California or Puerto Rico purely for partisan politics – because they didn’t vote for him,” said Kevin Carroll, former senior counselor to the homeland security secretary John Kelly during Trump’s term. Carroll said Kelly, later the president’s chief of staff, had to “twist Trump’s arm” to get him to release the federal funding via Fema to these badly hit areas.

“It was clear that Trump was entirely self-interested and vengeful towards those he perceived didn’t vote for him,” Carroll told the Guardian. “He even wanted to pull the navy out of Hawaii because they didn’t vote for him. We were appalled – these are American civilians the government is meant to provide for. The idea of withholding aid is antithetical to everything you want from in a leader.”

The effort to overcome Trump’s reluctance to provide aid for California succeeded only after the then-president was provided voting data showing that Orange county, heavily damaged by the wildfires, has large numbers of Republican voters, according to Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security adviser to the Trump White House.

“We had to sit around and brainstorm a way where he would agree to this because he looked at everything through a political lens,” Troye told the Guardian. “There were instances where disaster declarations would sit on his desk for days, we’d get phone calls all the time on how to speed things up, sometimes we had to get [Vice-President] Mike Pence to weigh in.

Republicans forget what he's said. It's well documented and there's even proof on videos. It's not FAKE News.

Romans 12:19-21"Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord".  

Proverbs 24:29"Do not say: 'I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will get even with him'".  

Leviticus 19:18A Jew should not take revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Jew who has harmed him.  

The only reason that aid would be denied is if he knew that it wouldn't get to the people who needed it most ... such as the aid that was sent to Puerto Rico and stockpiled in warehouses so that the governor could say that Trump was denying aid and aid that lined the pockets of California politicians ... aid for wildfires was conditional that clearing of underbrush and cutting firebreaks was mandatory to prevent future fires ... the EPA refused to allow it ... the same EPA that valued the lives of "snail darters" over the lives of 23 firefighters that perished because the wouldn't allow a water drop taken from their habitat ...

You also cite sources that are laughable at best and deceitful at large ... you turn the story to match your narrative by claiming "partisanship" and against non-supporters ... Obozo did that in Texas and other states that opposed him ... clean up your own back yard before you look at others ...

[martiestudies]

hi. i've been inactive for a while and will probably continue to be due to the social and political circumstances in my country

if you're not familiar with argentina's university system please take a moment to read this:

as of last week, on oct 9th 2024, a presidential veto was passed on a law about the national university budget. the law was intended as a wage compensation, because for a few months now (and with the worsening economical situation) professors salaries as well as other university workers salaries have been below minimum wage. our teachers can't make ends meet.

all year we've had had public classes, weekly strikes, protests and all kinds of other forms of demands against the continuous and accelerated dismantling of our public education system, one of the pillars and prides of argentina.

particularly this year the situation has been dire because the salaries of our professors and other uni staff have been rapidly loosing purchasing power in a very short amount of time. there's been two historical rallies across the entire country defending our free and public education system:

the student movement in argentina has always been historical. many goverments have tried to take away our rights before, and we have always fought back. you can't learn about argentina's history without mentioning the force of its university students.

i didn't want to make too long of a post, but honestly i don't know how to summarize the severity of the situation:

we are looking at possibly stopping classes indefinitely, because the goverment has been defunding the national university budgets (along with our national science system and healthcare system, might i add) and we can't continue like this.

as i've said, this is not the first time the student forces have to protest for our rights.

a few weeks ago the Congress debated a law of university funding, that declared "budgetary emergency of the national university system, given the increasing costs of essential goods and services, the impact that they have for salary commitments and operating expenses of all national universities." basically, to ingrease asap the budget because otherwise the system cannot work.

the law passed both representative cameras of the Congress, and then was vetoed by the president, Javier Milei. as stated in our constitution, a veto can be surpassed if it goes through and is approved by 2/3 of both cameras again. however this wasn't possible because our representatives apparently don't agree with our rights, and the law finally didn't pass leaving the university system budget in a growing crisis.

student unions across all Argentina organized assemblies and took action to protest against this desition and in favor of defending the our national systems of education, but also science and healthcare.

as i'm writing this, 72 faculties (and counting) have been occupied by students, and some others have taking different types of action in different national universities across the country. there's quite a lot of footage online, but i'm leaving here some videos of the voting for the occupations (x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x) and protests (x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x). again, all this is from these past few days. and of course there's also opposition from Milei's sympathizers and police repression. still we resist.

i'm writing this in hopes of sharing our reality and trying to explain just a little bit of what we're going through as a country. this goverment has been destroying all that we cherish and pride ourselves in, the things that make Argentina a great country; a single post can't contain all of it.

[ridenwithbiden]

Many of the lawmakers that voted against the provision of additional necessary funding to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) represent states that were hit particularly hard by Hurricane Helene.

No Democratic lawmakers voted nay.

Read the full list of lawmakers that voted against the stopgap measure below.

North Carolina: Representative Dan Bishop, NC 8th District Senator Ted Budd

South Carolina: Representative Jeff Duncan, SC 3rd District Representative Russell Fry, SC 7th District Representative Nancy Mace, SC 1st District Representative Ralph Norman, SC 5th District Representative William R. Timmons IV, SC 4th District Senator Tim Scott

Georgia: Representative Richard McCormick, GA 6th District Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, GA 14th District Representative Mike Collins, GA 10th District Representative Andrew S. Clyde, GA 9th District

Florida: Representative Daniel Webster, FL 11th District Representative Michael Waltz, FL 6th District Representative Bill Posey, FL 8th District Representative Cory Mills, FL 7th District Representative Anna Paulina Luna, FL 13th District Representative Laurel M. Lee, FL 15th District Representative Matt Gaetz, FL 11th District Representative Bryon Donalds, FL 1st District Representative Kat Cammack, FL 3rd District Representative Gus M. Bilirakis, FL 12th District Representative Aaron Bean, FL 4th District Senator Rick Scott refused to vote

Tennessee: Representative Tim Burchett, TN 2nd District Representative Andrew Ogles, TN 5th District Representative John W. Rose, TN 6th District Senator Marsha Blackburn Senator Bill Hagerty

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Chuck Ross

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) denounced the rise of anti-Semitism in the progressive movement at an event with liberal Jewish leaders on Monday. Weeks earlier, the "Squad" member requested $1.5 million in taxpayer funds for a New York City law group accused of hostility towards Jews and Israel.

Ocasio-Cortez requested an earmark on May 17 for Bronx Defenders to "improve justice in the criminal system" for low-income residents of the borough. Ocasio-Cortez, who has called to defund police, said the grant will help low-income defendants "mount a robust defense," against what she laments as the "vast" resources of police departments.

Bronx Defenders has been embroiled in several high-profile incidents of anti-Semitism. The organization was ordered to pay a former Jewish employee $170,000 last year after colleagues harassed her with anti-Semitic taunts over her support for Israel. In September, Bronx Defenders employees at a court-ordered training session on anti-Semitism broke out in a chant of "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," a call for the eradication of the Jewish state.

Ocasio-Cortez’s request highlights the tightrope she has tried to walk as a leader of a progressive movement that has become increasingly hostile to Israel—and as an emerging ally of President Joe Biden, whom anti-Israel activists often refer to as "Genocide Joe."

The Bronx Defenders’ anti-Israel hostility has only grown in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack. According to the New York Times, roughly 150 Bronx Defenders union members approved a statement that condemned Israel’s "genocide" in Gaza, but failed to condemn Hamas’s attack, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered. The union said it "supports Palestinian liberation and resistance under occupation," and pushed the debunked claim that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Bronx Defenders executives have tried to distance the group from the union’s statement, but that hasn’t thwarted calls to defund the organization.

Ocasio-Cortez decried anti-Semitism on the left during a virtual event with the head of Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a liberal Jewish group. While Ocasio-Cortez said anti-Semitism "undermine[s]" the progressive cause, she asserted that "bad faith political actors" are "weaponizing anti-Semitism" to divide the progressive movement.

Ocasio-Cortez’s condemnation could ring hollow given her history of voting against measures to support Israel or condemn anti-Semitic acts.

The Democrat, who accused Israel of genocide in a House floor speech in March, has suggested that "marginalized Palestinians" have "no choice but to riot" against Israel. She was 1 of 10 House members to vote against a resolution in October to condemn Hamas’s attack and reiterate "commitment to Israel’s security." In 2021, Ocasio-Cortez apologized and publicly sobbed after she voted "present" to fund Israel’s Iron Dome, a defense system which has thwarted hundreds of Hamas rockets and Iranian drones in the latest war.

In April, Ocasio voted against a resolution to condemn "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"—the same chant that broke out at the Bronx Defenders meeting last year—as anti-Semitic.

Ocasio-Cortez’s office and the Bronx Defenders did not respond to requests for comment.

[rainbowdaisy13]

Beautiful, wear some more merch Taylor. How does she this and doesn't cancel that fucking pap walk? Have a spine. And I'm supposed to be impressed she endorsed Kamala? Nvm that Karlie is actually fighting this in her homestate. But with how poorly she's being treated by Taylor, maybe this makes Taylor giddy. It's just another thing to fuck with her. She can't repost the Getaway Coalition, Karlie's efforts to stop this in Missouri, but she sure as fuck is proud to be seen with these other people. That's a choice she makes over and over again. Each time I think my opinion of Taylor can't drop any lower, she proves me wrong. The things she does for money and fame are so fucked. I can't believe I've ever spent a dime on this phony ass person.

https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/11/missouri-abortion-amendment-opposition-hunt-chiefs/

This is what many of us are saying—making one IG post saying she’s voting for Kamala doesn’t mean shit if she’s actively working with people who are trying to take away women’s rights

It’s a fucking joke, she’s a joke

Karlie working to get signatures FOR this amendment simultaneously is so wild

“Abortion is illegal from the moment of conception in Missouri, with limited exceptions for medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.”

[mariacallous]

TBILISI -- Georgian voters are heading to the polls on October 26 for parliamentary elections that all sides see as a crossroads in the country's modern history. Tension has been high ahead of the vote, and with no reliable polls the outcome is anyone's guess.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has been in power since 2012 and is seeking another four-year term. They have framed the election as a choice of peace or war; the party's campaign messaging has been dominated by the argument that if the opposition were to come to power it would drag Georgia into war against Russia.

Russia Vs. The West

For the opposition, the vote represents a choice between the West or Russia and between democracy and authoritarianism. That narrative has been echoed by officials in the United States and Europe.

The elections "will be the moment of truth and the Georgian people will have to decide which way they want to go: toward Europe or getting apart from Europe," the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said."It's the future of the country which is at stake."

Democratic Backsliding

The vote will take place following an unusually tumultuous period even by Georgian political standards. Georgian Dream has embraced increasingly anti-Western rhetoric and adopted controversial laws that they justify as a means of combating foreign influence in the country.

They include laws banning "LGBT propaganda" and requiring NGOs and media that get funding from abroad to register as"foreign agents." The reintroduction of the latter law sparked huge protests this spring.

Opposition Challenge

The vote will be held under a new electoral system in which parties or coalitions have to meet a threshold of 5 percent to make it into parliament. That has motivated Georgia's numerous and fractious opposition parties to cooperate to some degree to form coalitions with a reasonable chance of making it over the threshold. In the end, four likely viable opposition forces have emerged:

Unity -- To Save Georgia, a coalition led by the former ruling United National Movement (ENM) party once headed by imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili

Coalition for Change, largely made up of other former ENM-affiliated figures

Strong Georgia, an ideologically eclectic coalition that has tried to position itself as neither ENM nor Georgian Dream

For Georgia, a party led by Giorgi Gakharia, who was prime minister under Georgian Dream from 2019 to 2021 but then broke with the party

While the four manifest some differences in their preelection promises, they are largely united on their overarching priority of ousting Georgian Dream and have, for the most part, directed their fire at the ruling party rather than each other.

They all have signed a Georgian Charter proposed by President Salome Zurabishvili, in which they agree, in the case of an opposition victory, to let her form a technocratic government that would restore good relations with the West and repeal the most authoritarian laws that Georgian Dream has passed in the run-up to the campaign.

Zurabishvili, whose term ends this year, was elected president as an independent candidate in 2018 but was supported by Georgian Dream. She has since distanced herself from the party.

Ruling Party's Advantage

Ruling parties in Georgia traditionally have an electoral advantage in that they can cajole government employees and their families to vote for them. Western observers have judged past Georgian elections as flawed but legitimate.

But Georgian Dream's authoritarian turn and its particular targeting of election-monitoring groups as foreign agents have raised fears there may be more outright fraud this time around.

Georgian Dream leaders have said their goal is to win not merely a majority but a constitutional majority (113 out of 150 seats), which would allow them to rule more unilaterally. They have promised that, with a constitutional majority, they would strengthen anti-LGBT laws and ban all the major opposition parties, deeming them responsible for provoking the 2008 war against Russia and trying to drag the country into war again.

Given the high stakes and the uncertainty around the results, many worry about the prospect of unrest following the elections. For the first time, Georgia will be using a new electronic ballot-counting system (with a paper backup), and results are expected one to two hours after polls close at 8 p.m. Georgian time.

[phoenixyfriend]

CALL YOUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES TODAY 2/7/24

VERY IMPORTANT, CALL AS EARLY IN THE MORNING AS YOU CAN, AS THEY WILL PROBABLY BE VOTING TODAY, POSSIBLY TOMORROW

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

VOTE AGAINST: H.R. 7217: Making emergency supplemental appropriations to respond to the attacks in Israel for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes.

VOTE AGAINST: H.Res. 863: Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors. REASON: it’s a baseless political move meant to flex on their opposition. If your rep is republican, tell them off for focusing on litigating against the Dems instead of focusing on policy.

VOTE AGAINST: H.Res. 994: Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 7160) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the limitation on the amount certain married individuals can deduct for State and local taxes, and providing for consideration of the resolution (H.Res. 987) denouncing the harmful, anti-American energy policies of the Biden administration, and for other purposes. REASON: Loses billions in tax revenue and explicitly targets green energy.

SENATE:

Senate Republicans are looking like they’ll vote down the budget that’s been negotiated for MONTHS despite ostensibly getting everything they wanted. Tell them to stop being cowards and backing out of something they promised to their constituents just because Donald Trump told them not to. He’s not even in the government right now.

DO tell them that you still aren’t happy with the bill because it’s too focused on anti-immigration policies and that you’d be happy if they bent on that one, and on Israel’s military funding. Better if they focus on (cause of your choice that needs more funding).

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

ELMO TANKED THE GOVERNMENT

TCinLA

Dec 19, 2024

The truth is that Elmo Muck, who apparently considers himself the unelected co-president after spending $150 million to elect Donald Trump, is an Unreconstructed Afrikaner White Supremacist and Broderbund Nazi, whose father took the family to South Africa from Canada because he supported and believed in Apartheid, who has no knowledge of how American politics and government actually works. But his Dunning-Kruger score is so high, he considers himself a genius about everything.

He has little understanding of how anything else actually works, since he’s really an uneducated moron whose “degrees” are phony. His reputation as the “Chief Engineer” comes from his access to his dodgy family’s dodgy fortune made in the dodgy Blood Diamond and Conflict Gem scam in the days of Apartheid, which allowed him to buy other people’s good ideas then steal the credit.

Elmo has now managed to tank the government before his alleged co-president, Felon34 - who seems to believe he became president on November 5 - even manages to take the oath of office next month.

After the bill to provide 84 days of funding to the government and prevent a shutdown at midnight this Friday was released, Elmo wrote on Xitter (that’s pronounced “Shitter”), “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!”

Given that the World’s Richest Man could fund primary challengers for every member of The Party of Broken Toys in the House from his couch money, the Broken Toys sat up and listened.

Within hours, Felon34 and Corporal Couchfucker followed their leader and condemned the bill, which the Party of Broken Toys then duly tanked.

Felon34 might be coming into office with his highest favorable rating ever, and feeling untouchable after winning the popular vote by a whole 1.52%, but his favorable rating is still only at 46 percent. And that is before the government shuts down over Christmas and New Years.

Elmo then posted on Xitter that “the people (me) have spoken.”

This from the man with a 65% negative poll rating from the people he claims to speak for.

The action now piles the immediate possibility of a government shutdown atop the already high-pressure negotiations over the funding measure, leaving the Right Reverend MAGA Mike in that position traditionally known technically as Up Shit Creek Without A Paddle.

Reverend Mike didn’t have the votes to pass a Continuing Resolution without Democrats - which is why so many shiny Democratic presents were hanging in that Christmas Tree - and now he doesn’t have the Democrats, who are busy passing the popcorn as they watch the shitshow, and he still doesn’t have The Gang That Cannot Work And Play Well With Others, plus he knows there’s at least one assassin out there packing a Motion to Vacate, for use on January 3, 2025.

Government shutdowns - and failed attempts to avoid them by the Broken Toys that 75 million mouthbreathing morons voted for - are now increasingly likely to be the torpedo amidships that sinks Felon34's First 100 Days Honeymoon. They will not be able to fix this once with a full-on vote for a budget, and - assuming they can orgnize a government capable of voting for one limited CR - they will be doing this again and again this year.

That’s actually a Good Thing.

The problem is, most of the Broken Toys are ignoramuses who have no idea how government actually works. They have no understanding of or appreciation for history, so they have no way of becoming knowledgeable about governance. Florida representative Anna Paulina Lunatic went so far this afternoon as to announce she was going to vote against the emergency relief money a majority of those who voted for are in need of after the hurricane that swamped Florida. More importantly, they do not want to govern; they hate government. Thus, they have no ability and no desire to run a government and they don’t care that they don’t know how.

Reverend Mike not only has no majority support from his fellow Broken Toys, he has no support from the alleged leaders of the GOP, Felon34 and Corporal Couchfucker. The Corporal was asked several times this afternoon whether he supported Reverend Mike; he failed to reply to any of the multiple questions other than once to say “Have a nice day.”

Felon34 and Corporal Couchfucker were unable to get their candidate, Senator Skeletor, in as Senate Majority Leader. Assuming there is one of the Broken Toys they think would be a better speaker, what makes them think they could get the rest of the Broken Toys to vote for that candidate?

What happens if the Broken Toys get rid of Reverend Mike on Friday, January 3?

If memory serves about how well they worked and played with others after dumping Kevin McCarthy, they won’t have a Speaker on Monday, January 6, and won’t have a government, so who will be there to accept the Electoral Vote count to declare Felon34 and Corporal Couchfucker being voted into office?

And what are the odds they’re still trying to find their ass with both hands by January 20 and there is still no Speaker, no organized House, no budget to pay for the Chief Justice to administer the oath of office that day?

Government shutdowns that happen while there is no Speaker of the House and no way to elect one, assuming there was anyone in the Party of Broken Toys with the ability to deal with things if they did get elected, are even harder to deal with than the normal shutdowns brought about by The Gang That Cannot Work And Play With Others

With no government and no government operating budget, that also means there is no Massive Deportation since there is no money to build the camps, or pay for the ICE storm troopers.

And without a Speaker to organize the House and create the government, there is no Senate to vote on and confirm the Collection of Clucks that Felon34 has nominated to destroy America.

You know, the thought of there being no legal government at this particular point in history suddenly looks better and better.

Yes! Let the Broken Toys continue to shoot themselves in the foot!

All hail Elmo - the man who knew so little he was able to fuck up the government beyond all recognition, all by himself.

Elmo. The man who tanked the United States. It takes real genius to pull that off.