ILHAN OMAR

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THE BOSTON GLOBE

"At a modest New York fund-raiser, ‘the Squad’ got its start"


By Jazmine Ulloa - Globe Staff

July 23, 2019, 8:40 p.m.

WASHINGTON — On a hot evening in June last year, an eclectic mix of people mingled under the glow of a neon pink light in the living room of a small Greenwich Village apartment, intent on altering American politics.

This was not your typical glitzy Manhattan fund-raiser.

The fare was cheese, chips, and guacamole, with a large ice bucket filled with craft beer in the bathtub.

The attendees — young activists, artists, and political campaign staffers — had spent the better part of the year organizing a Democratic insurgency meant to sweep big money out of politics and defeat Republicans.

Among those in the room were two little-known congressional candidates who had never met: Ayanna Pressley, who had traveled down from Boston and was stirring up the crowd that had gathered to raise money for her campaign, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made a late entrance after a quick trip from her home in the Bronx.


The two were about to form a bond, later extended to two other largely unknown candidates of color, that would shake up the Democratic political establishment.

“Change can’t wait,” some remember Pressley said that night, repeating her campaign slogan.

In primaries and in the mid-term general election five months later, voters ushered in the most diverse class of first-term lawmakers in the history of the House.

And at the center of that group was the Squad: Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

The four — who each shattered a glass ceiling, learned to navigate the halls of Congress, and faced racist attacks by President Trump — have become a case study in the influence of new media and of a movement that pushed women, women of color, and working-class people to run for office.

Now they face the question of how to wield the power amplified by Trump’s focus and their own massive online followings and translate it into policy.


“The work that we are doing of movement and coalition building, of disrupting status quo paradigms in how we govern, in how we engage, in how we ran and won our election is bigger than four people,” Pressley said in an interview.

“This was something created by community.”

Before they dubbed themselves the Squad, the four, ranging in age from 29 to 45, connected online and off, telling their stories through their own social media channels.

Tweets and Instagram posts, plus interviews with Pressley and Tlaib and with close associates, show tight-knit relationships that emerged organically but that they say have intentionally centered on the “shine theory.”

Coined by writer Aminatou Sow, the phrase is based on the idea that “I don’t shine if you don’t shine” and that people, women especially, should collaborate rather than compete.

A connection was clear between Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez from the start.

“I do think our stories are very similar,” Pressley said later at the fund-raiser, placing a hand on Ocasio-Cortez’s back, according to a short video clip she posted on Twitter the next day.

“So I can’t wait ‘til we win and go start our own caucus.”

They grew close through their shared experiences as women of color running insurgent primary campaigns.

Pressley dispatched a field organizer to turn out voters for Ocasio-Cortez in the final days of her primary.

After Ocasio-Cortez won, pulling off a dramatic upset against fourth-ranking House Democrat and 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley, she sent volunteers from the Bronx to Boston to help Pressley campaign and made a stop that summer at a fund-raiser for Tlaib.

A few days after Tlaib won her Democratic primary in August, she paid it forward, posting a series of photos of her and her team knocking on doors for Omar in Minneapolis.

If they were miles apart, the congresswomen and their supporters say, they kept a close eye on each other’s uphill races and the progressive stances they shared in liberal, fairly diverse districts — or as Tlaib put it in an interview, the “joys and the pain of a unique walk that can be very lonely.”

All campaigned on increasing access to health care and improving education, addressing a widening income gap that hurts working families, and standing in strong opposition to Trump administration policies that have stirred fear and anxiety among African-Americans, Muslims, refugees, and other immigrants in their communities.

And all went on to overwhelmingly win on election night in the general election — with videos of their victory parties on their social media streams beamed into living rooms nationwide.

It was in November, during a congressional orientation for progressive House Democrats, that the four congresswomen grew tight and gave themselves the nickname the Squad – Internet slang with roots in hip-hop that defines a group with a sense of solidarity.

On that day, they had stepped out for an interview with the nonprofit VoteRunLead, which trains women to run for office.

The talk was live-streamed via Facebook.

Even then, a little nervous before the camera at first, the four incoming representatives grappled with how to define the priorities that bound them without giving short shrift to their historic congressional wins: Pressley as the first African-American woman from her state; Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to the House; and Tlaib and Omar as the first Muslim women in Congress.

“This is an incredibly dark time in our country and we know that we brought in some light,” Tlaib told the interviewer then.

“We want to celebrate that, but so much of it is because we didn’t want to be on the outside of the ring anymore — we want to get on the inside and for me it’s fighting poverty, it’s fighting against the environmental polluters, and [for] my community.”

Sitting along a table afterward, they took a now-iconic photo that Ocasio-Cortez captioned “The Squad.”

An Instagram video from that day stamped with the hashtag, #squadgoals, shows the four wandering a hall together.

“Say hi everyone, we out here,” Ocasio-Cortez says, as Pressley chimes in — “Heeey!” — and Tlaib gives a peace sign.

The four continued to bond over their support for policies, such as passing the Green New Deal, eliminating student debt, expanding health care for low-income mothers, and improving the treatment of migrants at the border.

Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib also serve together on two House committees.

And they rallied around Omar after she made controversial comments about Israel in February.

Their kinship has been compared to the class of so-called “Watergate Babies,” who were elected after that scandal in 1974 and who helped weaken the power of committee chairmanships.

They also have been compared to young Republicans elected in 1994 after campaigning on the “Contract with America” and helping the party take the House majority for the first time in decades.

But those were mostly white men — and none had the power of social media.

All four women in the Squad have been effective at using their online prominence to bring attention to their message and have had an outsized role as first-term lawmakers, political experts said.

But a Republican-controlled Senate and Republican president will limit their ability to turn their beliefs into policies.

They also have entered Congress as the Democratic Party is at a generational, ethnic, and racial crossroads.

It has yet to decide on a winning 2020 presidential campaign strategy to beat Trump: appeal to moderate voters who helped them recapture the House or to the newly awakened young and minority voters whom the Squad has energized.

“Once a term exists in the world, it gets interpreted and reprinted in so many ways that it can lose its meaning,” said Amber Spry, an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University in Waltham.

“The power that these four representatives do have is to continue shaping that narrative and continue shaping this vision for the public about who the Squad is and who can be included in it and what it can do.”

Laura Krantz contributed to this story. Reach Jazmine Ulloa at jazmine.ulloa@globe.com.

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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT GIVE THE DEMOCRATS THE RIGHT TO ATTACK A DIPLOMAT BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE HIM ...

Tribune News Service

"House Democrats weigh action against US and Israel ambassadors over banned visit"


By Michael Wilner, McClatchy Washington Bureau

17 AUGUST 2019

WASHINGTON — Senior Democratic members of Congress are considering action against top emissaries of the Israeli government and the Trump administration for their roles in Israel’s decision to bar two House members from entering the country.

About a dozen lawmakers, including senior Jewish members, began discussions on Friday morning over ways to communicate a “deep lack of confidence and trust” in Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The group is weighing issuing a statement of no confidence in Dermer and opening an inspector general investigation into Friedman’s conduct, the sources said.

Israel banned Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from a planned visit to Israel and the West Bank this weekend, provoking outrage among Democrats and some Republicans, including some who have harshly criticized the two lawmakers on policy grounds.

“We are reviewing all of our options,” a senior congressional source told McClatchy.

“With Dermer, the issue is that there already was a severe lack of trust."

"But now there is a severe lack of confidence."

"It is completely unclear that he represents his government given he has made promises that he has not kept and wasn’t clear if he ever had any chance of keeping.”

The Democratic lawmakers include Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey of New York.

Two congressional sources said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland was also part of the talks, but his spokeswoman Katie Grant said he is not involved.

In a statement, Hoyer referred to Israel’s decision on Tlaib and Omar as “deeply disappointing,” “disrespectful,” “unacceptable” and a “self-inflicted wound” on the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Dermer had assured Hoyer in recent weeks that, “out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America, we would not deny entry to any Member of Congress into Israel.”

The Israeli government reversed course this week under pressure from President Donald Trump, who is campaigning to portray the freshman congresswomen’s policies as the future of the Democratic Party.

Trump tweeted: “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit” and that “They are a disgrace!”

Many Democrats have viewed Dermer skeptically since 2015, when the top Netanyahu confidante orchestrated the prime minister’s controversial address to Congress targeting then-President Barack Obama’s nuclear talks with Iran.

In a rare move, Netanyahu requested last month to extend Dermer’s term for a third time because of his close ties with his office and the Trump administration.

Adding to their concern over Dermer’s handling of the congresswomen’s visit, Democrats were further angered after the Israelis released Omar and Tlaib’s planned itinerary and a letter from Tlaib in a public justification of the move.

That action raised concerns over whether U.S. lawmakers can trust their communications with Israel’s embassy will remain private going forward.

“Dermer is saying privately that he expects this to go away within a day — it’s a real lack of understanding on the consequences of this,” one congressional source said.

The group of Democrats is also considering action against Trump’s ambassador to Israel, who issued a public statement defending Israel’s decision on Thursday, citing the country’s laws against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement.

Omar and Tlaib support the BDS movement.

In the morning talks, lawmakers recalled a 1975 incident in which Henry Waxman, a longtime Democratic congressman from California, was banned from Saudi Arabia after listing his Jewish background on his visa application.

The State Department intervened at that time in order to ensure all members of Congress could conduct business on behalf of the government, and Waxman was allowed in.

Friedman is breaking with that precedent, they argue, by failing to stand up for members of Congress.

The group of Democratic lawmakers may call for a formal inspector general investigation “into the role the ambassador played in barring them from entering the country,” another congressional source said.

“Committees can make it very difficult for ambassadors to do their jobs,” the source continued, “if he makes it very difficult for our members to do our jobs.”

———

Lesley Clark contributed to this report.

———

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at http://www.mcclatchydc.com

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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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THIS GETS MORE AND MORE CHILDISH AND ADOLESCENT BY THE DAY ...

The Daily Beast

"Democrats Want to Turn Trump’s Twitter Addiction Into an Election Issue"


By sam.stein@thedailybeast.com (Sam Stein)

19 AUGUST 2019

Donald Trump’s Twitter habit has caused no shortage of controversy during his presidency.

Now, Democrats are hoping to turn it into a liability for his re-election.

One of the party’s top think tanks has been privately encouraging lawmakers and candidates to attack the president for failing to deliver on the promises he made because he’s too consumed by social media.


It is, undoubtedly, the first case of a campaign tactic geared towards turning a president’s online behavior into a liability; though rarely has a president’s reliance on — and use of — a media bullhorn been such a defining personality trait.

Those pushing it have offered new polling data to bolster the idea that the argument will move voters.

About two months ago, the Center for American Progress commissioned the firm Civis to test messaging that framed Trump not as corrupt or unethical but as “ineffective” — and to attribute that ineffectiveness to his being absorbed by his Twitter feed.

The results were notable.

Of the six messages tested on Trump, the idea that he was “more focused on his Twitter account than on delivering on his promises” was the only one that consistently moved the vote towards Democrats, including among Obama-Trump voters.

Soon after the Civis study was commissioned, top officials in the party began pushing the line.

“We’ve seen this act before and we have to make sure that the public sees the sharp contrast between getting something done,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in a press availability after Trump’s campaign kickoff in early June.

“The one word I would use to describe him now after hearing that yesterday is ineffective.”

Not everyone in the party has rushed to adopt the framing, for fear that it merely goes after the medium on which Trump expresses his bluster and bigotry, and not the bluster and bigotry itself.

After the president called on Rep. Ilham Omar (D-MN) to go back to her country (she’s a U.S. citizen who was born in Somalia), Pelosi encouraged her members to label the president ineffective but not “racist.”

Aides flagged the Speaker’s comments for HuffPost, apparently confused why the party wouldn’t directly attack Trump’s clearly racist remarks.

Those who have worked on the messaging say that going after Trump for being a racist and for being distracted by Twitter to the point of ineffectiveness is not an either-or.

But, they argue, the former comes with the risk of turning off his supporters by suggesting that they are comfortable with his worst traits, while the latter emphasizes a characteristic of Trump that virtually no one finds flattering.

“I think only the hardest core Trump believers think he should spend more time on Twitter."

"But that is the reality of his presidency."

"For better or worse people think he spends most of his time on Twitter and the way he engages on it is mostly negative,” said Navin Nayak, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

“Juxtaposing that becomes a very powerful way of underscoring how he has not accomplished anything economically for the American people."

"Going after that is an effective way of attacking Trump without impugning the motives of anyone who voted for him.”

Nayak’s point is underscored by polling that was done by the firm Navigator in mid-July.

The study found that on a number of issues, a large swath of voters didn’t believe Trump had kept or was working to keep his campaign promises.

But it was when respondents were asked why they believe the president was falling short on those promises that things got interesting.

Fifty percent of voters felt like he wasn’t keeping his promises because he was getting “distracted by other unimportant priorities like petty disagreements and Twitter,” including 65 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Independents.

It was the highest polling response.

Forty-four percent said that Trump “never intended to keep” his promises, but just 35 percent of Independents said they felt that way.

“This is where Democrats have a huge opportunity."

"The thing everyone hears about Donald Trump more than anything else is that he is on Twitter all day."

"That’s what they hear."

"If they want to know what he is doing all day that’s what they hear,” said Nayak.

“We aren’t making a moral judgment by saying it."

"We are pointing to a factual reality.”

Nayak said that both he and CAP have been pushing out the findings to as many folks as possible in hopes that the party keeps hitting on the failed-to-deliver, distracted-by-Twitter theme.

But the plan comes with one glaring risk.

What if Trump were simply to stop using Twitter?

“I will take my chances,” said Nayak.

“There is no chance [he kicks the habit]."

"He doesn’t know how to communicate any other way.”

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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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FOX NEWS

"Trump says Democrats are 'Party of the Squad,' slams media as his 'primary opponent'"


Brooke Singman

2 SEPTEMBER 2019

President Trump said Democrats have become the “Party of the Squad” Monday, leveling fresh attacks at the mainstream media, blasting it as his “primary opponent.”

The president issued a series of tweets early Monday after a Washington Post report said that he “leveled racist attacks” against the four freshman congresswomen of color — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley — who make up “the Squad.”

“The Amazon Washington Post did a story that I brought racist attacks against the 'Squad.'”

"No, they brought racist attacks against our Nation."

"All I do is call them out for the horrible things they have said."

"The Democrats have become the Party of the Squad!” Trump tweeted.

The report, published late Sunday, outlined several controversies for the administration this summer — including the feud with the four congresswomen.

Trump, in June, suggested that the lawmakers, who have been outspoken in their criticisms against him and his administration, should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places where they came from.”

“Then come back and show us how it is done,” Trump said in June.

At rallies, following his comments, Trump supporters broke into chants of “send her back,” which Trump later distanced himself from.

The chants had been directed at Omar, D-Minn., who was born in Somalia, came to the U.S. as a refugee when she was a teen and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

“Those are incredible patriots,” Trump told reporters, after supporters in North Carolina chanted.

“But I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes and says, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare.’"

"She’s going to be the president’s nightmare?"

"She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you."

"And the things she has said are a disgrace to our country.”

The president has also accused the congresswomen of being "a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced and not very smart."

Meanwhile, Trump blasted “Fake News,” and called the media his “primary opponent.”

“The LameStream Media has gone totally CRAZY!"

"They write whatever they want, seldom have sources (even though they say they do), never do 'fact-checking' anymore, and are only looking for the 'kill.'"

"They take good news and make it bad,” he continued.

“They are now beyond Fake, they are Corrupt."

"The good news is that we are winning."

"Our real opponent is not the Democrats, or the dwindling number of Republicans that lost their way and got left behind, our primary opponent is the Fake News Media."

"In the history of our Country, they have never been so bad!”

Fox News' Brie Stimson, Ronn Blitzer, and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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CNN

"Republican running to challenge Rep. Ilhan Omar has Twitter account permanently suspended"


By Kate Sullivan, CNN

30 NOVEMBER 2019

A Republican candidate running to challenge Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota had her Twitter account permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter rules, according to a Twitter spokesperson.

Danielle Stella says she was banned for a tweet in which she spread a baseless claim about Omar and said if the claim is true, Omar should be tried for treason and hanged, according to a post to her Facebook account.

Two Twitter accounts of Stella's have been suspended, her campaign confirmed to CNN.

Omar has been a frequent target of smears and attacks by President Donald Trump and his supporters.

In April, Omar said she experienced an increase in death threats after Trump tweeted about a speech she had given the month before.

"This just shows how far the Republican Party has fallen under Trump."

"Their campaign strategy is just threats, disinformation and smears against their opponents and the people will continue to reject it," Omar said in a statement.

The Minnesota freshman was elected last year and is the first Somali-American member of Congress, and she and Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress.

Omar has been at the center of numerous controversies since being sworn into Congress, including making comments criticizing US support for Israel that were seen as invoking anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes.

In a statement to CNN, Stella strongly criticized Twitter for the suspension and its policies.

Twitter has come under fire from critics who say tweets from politicians, including Trump, often violate its rules against bullying, dehumanization and threatening harm but are not taken down.

Twitter announced in June that they would not always remove tweets from world leaders, which break its rules when Twitter decides they are in the "public interest."

The company said then that they plan to place disclaimers on tweets that they decide to leave up.

The company provided a list of criteria that would inform this decision, including "Whether preserving a Tweet will allow others to hold the government official, candidate for public office, or appointee accountable for their statements."

Stella, who is not the only Republican looking to unseat Omar, describes herself as a special education needs professional.

She writes on her campaign website that "as a result of the lack of honorable representation for Minnesota's 5th congressional district, I believe it is my duty and privilege to stand up and speak for the forgotten American citizens in the District and throughout the state."

Omar came to the US more than two decades ago as a refugee and became an American citizen in 2000 at the age of 17, according to The New York Times.

She ran with the support of the Justice Democrats, the same progressive group that helped bring New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into politics, and is a proponent of Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, tuition-free college and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Ilhan Omar and Bernie Sanders want to bring woke socialism to the school cafeteria"


Brad Polumbo 

23 June 2021

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar aren’t content with pushing “Medicare for all” and the “Green New Deal.”

Now, they want to bring their socialist schemes to your child’s school cafeteria.


“Today would be a good day to make school meals universal,” Omar tweeted on Tuesday.

In doing so, the congresswoman renewed her push for legislation, co-sponsored with Sanders and dozens of other liberal lawmakers, to make taxpayers fund “free” school lunches for every student in America.

“In the richest country in the world, it is an outrage that millions of children struggle with hunger every day,” Sanders argued.

“Every child deserves a quality education free of hunger ..."

"I am proud to introduce this legislation.”

Under the Biden administration, the Department of Agriculture has actually expanded free school lunch to all students but on a temporary basis due to the pandemic.

Liberal lawmakers want to make the scheme permanent.

And they start from a premise that’s completely uncontroversial.

Of course, no one wants children to “struggle with hunger,” and everybody agrees that children “deserve a quality education free of hunger.”

But the socialist-leaning legislators go beyond these obvious truisms and quickly stumble into factually misleading and morally dubious territory.

Hearing their description of the status quo, one would forget that school lunch is already heavily subsidized and incredibly cheap.

According to SchoolNutrition.org, the average price of a school lunch nationwide was between $2.50 and $2.75 as of the 2016-2017 school year — significantly less than the $3.81 production cost per lunch served.

Meanwhile, all students from families at or below 130% of the poverty-defining income level are already eligible for completely “free” lunch.

Plus, any student at or below 185% of the poverty-defining income level is already eligible for reduced-price lunches: just 40 cents per meal.

So, despite what Omar's and Sanders’s rhetoric would imply, the existing infrastructure already more than adequately ensures that school lunches are affordable and accessible for students from low-income families.

As a result, forcing taxpayers to pick up the tab for “free” lunches for the rest of the student population would mostly benefit students whose families can easily afford to pay for their meals already.

Proponents try to claim the high ground, but this is morally wrong.

Why should working-class taxpayers have to shell out more to the IRS so that upper-class parents don’t have to pay $2.50 for their child’s lunch?


Another downside of this plan worth mentioning is that it would shovel more money and power into a government-run food system that is notoriously incompetent — remember the pseudoscientific “Food Pyramid”? — and wasteful.

And ultimately, the costs are borne by taxpayers.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously quipped that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

The free market scholar didn’t mean this literally, of course, and was referring to all forms of “free,” aka taxpayer-financed, government giveaways.

But as it turns out, the observation is just as apt if taken literally and applied to, well, lunch.

Socialist plans to give “free” school lunch to all would really mean higher taxes on all of us just to pay for the meals of children from middle- and upper-income families.

Interestingly, other “progressive” proposals such as forcing taxpayers to pay off student debt would also disproportionately benefit the middle and upper class.


This gap between rhetoric and reality is a pattern for Omar, Sanders, and their peers, and their “free lunch” proposal is no exception.

Just like so many other socialist schemes, big government would actually be used to pad the pockets of the well-off at the expense of the little guy.

Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a Washington Examiner contributor and host of the Breaking Boundaries podcast.

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NATIONAL REVIEW

"lhan Omar Says Senate Democrats Obstructing Effort to Eliminate Filibuster ‘Are Killing our Democracy’"


Caroline Downey

21 OCTOBER 2021

Progressive representative Ilhan Omar has claimed that moderate Democratic senators, namely Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, obstructing the effort to kill the filibuster are “killing our democracy.”

After Senate Republicans filibustered the Freedom to Vote Act, the Democratic-spearheaded federal-elections-reform bill, on Wednesday, Omar blamed the Democratic senators that have impeded the push to eliminate this procedural road block that allows the minority party to block debate on legislation they oppose.

To commence Senate proceedings on a bill, a filibuster must be overcome with 60 votes, a margin that Democrats do not have in the evenly divided chamber.

“The filibuster — and the Democratic Senators who continue to uphold it — are killing our democracy,” Omar tweeted Wednesday.

Confronting a Republican filibuster, Democrats secured 49 votes on Wednesday, a large miss from the 60 votes needed to salvage the “Freedom to Vote Act.”

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer changed his vote to a “nay” at the end so he could submit the legislation for another vote at a later date.

To beat the filibuster, Democrats needed to accomplish the unlikely feat of persuading at least ten Republicans to put the bill back on the table.

“Trump’s big lie is spreading like a cancer among Republicans."

"Here’s a chance for bipartisanship to repair that damage,” Schumer said Tuesday.

Wednesday’s filibuster marks the third time that Republican lawmakers have tanked the Democrats’ voting proposal, which gained steam after Texas Democrats orchestrated a protest walkout to bar their GOP-dominated legislature from advancing an elections bill they deemed a restrictive and disenfranchising measure.

President Biden criticized Republicans for ending discussion on the voting bill, accusing them of subverting democracy and the right to vote, which he said is “under unrelenting assault by proponents of the Big Lie and Republican Governors, Secretaries of State, Attorneys-General, and state legislatures across the nation.”

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REUTERS

"U.S. House to vote on Democratic proposal for State Dept anti-Islamophobia office"


By Moira Warburton

December 14, 2021

WASHINGTON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Democratic proposal for a U.S. State Department office addressing anti-Muslim bias is set to get a vote in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, after a Republican congresswoman used an Islamophobic slur against a Democratic colleague.

The bill, authored by Representative Ilhan Omar, would create a special envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in the department's annual human rights reports.


It comes just a few weeks after video emerged showing first-term Republican Representative Lauren Boebert calling Omar, a Muslim who was born in Somalia, a member of a "jihad squad."

That comment led to calls by Democrats for a vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments, as well as criticism by fellow Republican Representative Nancy Mace.

Republicans decried the bill, saying it lacked definitions and could be used for a wide range of actions.

Representative Guy Reschenthaler called the bill "rushed and a partisan effort."

Democrats countered that anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise in the United States and globally, and cited Boebert's comments as evidence.

Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Berkrot and Dan Grebler

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BLOOMBERG

"AOC Among Lawmakers Arrested at Supreme Court Rally"


Ella Ceron

19 JULY 2022

(Bloomberg) -- More than a dozen US lawmakers, most from the Democratic Women’s Caucus, were arrested by US Capitol police on Tuesday during an abortion-rights rally in front of the US Supreme Court.

New York Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez were among those who were arrested, as were Representatives Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar.

When reached for comment, the United States Capitol Police pointed to statements made on its Twitter account.

The US Capital Police said they arrested 35 people, including 17 members of Congress, for obstructing traffic.

Video footage of the event, which took place in front of the Supreme Court steps, shows Ocasio-Cortez being escorted away by police.

Representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The demonstration underscored Democrats’ ire over the June Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that dismantled the constitutional right to an abortion set by Roe v. Wade.

States that have historically been hostile to abortion rights had been lying in wait with trigger bans and other restrictions regarding abortion care.

Some 33 million women live in states with so-called trigger bans on the books that sought to immediately ban abortion.

Many of those have since gone into effect.

Experts warn that the shock waves of such restrictions will likely jeopardize care for those in states protecting abortion rights as well.

“I have the privilege of representing a state where reproductive rights are respected and protected — the least I can do is put my body on the line for the 33 million women at risk of losing their rights,” said Maloney in a statement.

She added that anti-abortion lawmakers and groups “are not pro-life, but pro-controlling the bodies of women, girls, and any person who can become pregnant."

"Their ultimate goal is to institute a national ban on abortion."

"We will not let them win."

"We will be back.”

Bush, who represents parts of St. Louis, Missouri, pointed to legislation she has introduced to protect access to medication abortion as well as the demonstration, when reached for comment.

"We need to be doing everything in our power to secure reproductive justice and access to abortion," she said.

"St. Louis sent me to Congress to do everything in my power to protect our rights and improve our lives."

"That’s why I’m fighting with everything I’ve got for my community.’’

Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib said abortion patients and providers "face much graver dangers, including arrest, but also violence in states across this country."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... f7dda10e2e
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Re: ILHAN OMAR

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"AOC and Ilhan Omar coordinated Supreme Court arrest stunt with Soros-funded dark money group"


Andrew Kerr

20 JULY 2022

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and the 15 other Democratic lawmakers who were arrested Tuesday outside the Supreme Court coordinated the stunt with a progressive dark money group funded by billionaire George Soros.

Getting arrested was the whole point of the stunt, Ocasio-Cortez said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

She said organizers of the Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund asked her and her colleagues to "submit themselves for arrest in front of the Supreme Court."


The New York lawmaker insisted in the post what she and her colleagues did was "very different than a 'publicity stunt.'"

Omar spokesman Jeremy Slevin tweeted about 30 minutes before the lawmakers hit the street that a film crew with the dark money group would be on the scene live streaming the event.

"Members of Congress, including [Omar] will be participating in a civil disobedience at the Supreme Court, potentially including arrests, shortly," Slevin tweeted before the lawmakers began illegally obstructing the street outside the Supreme Court.

"@CPDAction is live streaming it."

"Follow along!"

Andrew Friedman, the co-executive director of CPD Action, told the Washington Post in 2018 that the group and its sister organization, Center for Popular Democracy, receive over $1 million a year from Soros's Open Society Foundations.

As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group, CPD Action isn't required to disclose the identity of its donors.

CPD Action said its leaders were among the 18 nonmembers of Congress who were arrested alongside Ocasio-Cortez and the other Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday.

"Moments ago, leaders from CPD Action network organizations, members of Congress & more participated in a powerful civil disobedience demonstration & got arrested to protect our RIGHT to SAFE & LEGAL abortions," the dark money group posted on Facebook Tuesday afternoon.

"This is a clear message to SCOTUS and lawmakers that #WeWontBackDown until ALL pregnancy-abled people are treated as full human beings with the autonomy to make decisions about OUR OWN bodies," the group added.

CPD Action linked to a fundraising page in its Facebook post that urged activists to "continue acts of civil disobedience," such as the one it coordinated with the 17 arrested members of Congress on Tuesday to secure access to abortion across the country.

Ocasio-Cortez was widely mocked by conservative commentators for creating the impression that she was handcuffed by police during her arrest.

The New York lawmaker was filmed crossing her hands behind her back while she was being escorted off the scene by police.

She then pumped her fist toward a crowd of supporters while still detained by police.


Ocasio-Cortez insisted she wasn't pretending to be in handcuffs during her arrest.

"No faking here," Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet on Wednesday.

"Putting your hands behind your back is a best practice while detained, handcuffed or not, to avoid escalating charges like resisting arrest."

"But given how you lied about a fellow rape survivor for 'points,' as you put it to me, I don't expect much else from you."

A Capitol Police spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that nobody arrested outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday was handcuffed.

"As is standard for peaceful, planned protests, those who were arrested were ticketed and released on site," the spokesperson said.

"Nobody was handcuffed, as is standard for a noncustodial arrest."

"Everyone was arrested for Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding (DC Code § 22–1307)."

"They have up to 15 days to pay a $50 fine or they can have a hearing."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/aoc-a ... cf134aede3
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