I get that it's not just Republicans who are spouting off about this. That fact is a big part of the real problem, here.It should be pointed out that Rep. (Ilhan) Omar (D-MN) has been relentlessly hazed because she is a Somali Muslim and critical of Israeli policy toward their Palestinian semi-chattel. One of her critics is close to the hate figure Frank Gaffney, purveyor of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories of the sort the Nazis used to circulate about Jews...She may be wrong about the motives of some of her opponents. The anti-Palestinian politicians in the United States may have come by their determination to keep millions of displaced people stateless and without basic human rights honestly. That is, many may just be racists who believe that brown people should be kept down.Nor should consideration of the Israel lobbies only focus on money. Their propaganda techniques, for instance of equating any criticism of Israeli colonization of the Palestinian West Bank to terrorism, are also extremely effective. - Informed Comment
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
MN-05: How dare Rep. Omar tell it like it is!
Perhaps you saw the headline across the top of the Minneapolis Star Tribune this morning, assuring its ornery old subscriber base that someone is being put in her place. The following is quoted from the sort of reality-based item that, in a better world, would be the stock-in-trade of corporate media like the Strib as well.
The lines have been drawn ... well, at least the political lines in Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the National Republican Congressional Committee ran adds in support of Jim Hagedorn in his CD1 race against Democrat Dan Feehan. The ads show George Soros, a Jewish multi-billionaire and Hungarian immigrant known for supporting Democratic campaigns. He is shown behind stacks of money with the words “connoisseur of chaos” and “funder of the left” written out.
Hagedorn was requested to denounce the ads as "anti-Semitic" but he rejected that (http://www.southernminn.com/article_b58f0010-d895-5c1c-a8a0-5d147996568e.html)
Fast forward to newly elected Congressman Hagedorn who gave a January 30th interview with the Jewish Websight stating that "I’ll be canceling out Omar’s vote every chance I get."
He proceeded to essentially beg for an AIPAC trip.
(Typically, AIPAC provides a free trip for Members and their guests to visit Israel during the August recess during non-election years. Steny Hoyer takes a group of Dems and Kevin McCarthy takes the GOP ... freshmen legislators are targeted. If memory serves me correctly, Paulsen went a couple of times
as did Michele Bachmann. They can be entertaining -- Representative Kevin Yoder of Kansas went skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee in 2011 ... and this can be a great chance for wives to make a little cash -- Rachel Campos Duffy was paid as a “speaker” on her trip to Israel (trip cost $5,970.63 speaking fee $200) -- she is the wife of Wisconsin's Sean Duffy.
Of course, the AIPAC labels this as "educating" Members ... for example, during one of Paulsen's trips, he got to see the American-taxpayer funded Iron Dome in action ... fun fact, after 40 bipartisan Members wrote to their leaders suggesting that the Pentagon spend $500 million to acquire some Iron Dome systems.
That's right ... we paid to develop it ... and now, we are buying some to use.
Oh, by the way, Raytheon helped develop it ... and Raytheon was a contributor to congressional candidates.
Here's the interview
https://jewishwebsite.com/featured/meet-minnesota-rep-jim-hagedorn-a-peace-through-strength-conservative-who-stands-with-israel/38459/
IMO, Congresswoman Omar is correct in her assessment that it is about the Benjamins .... tell Congress that they can not go skinny dipping, they might change how much the taxpayers give them.
Oh, don't forget that Trump's “America First” agenda was sold as taxpayer providing fewer funds for foreign aid --- that has not included Israel.
But may it will in Trump's next budget ... if we ever get it ... by law, it was to be presented to Congress "on or before the first Monday in February" ... just another example of Trump ignoring the law.