U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib,
D-Mich., Because I Want It All.
Another sign emerged Saturday of frustration between far-left Democrats in Congress and the party's entrenched leadership.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib,
D-Mich., claimed in a Twitter message Saturday that she and other
minority members of the party have been used as tokens whenever the
party wants to project an image of inclusiveness.
The message
appeared to be triggered by a California Muslim activist's assertion
that Democratic leaders hadn't been adequately supportive of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has been accused of trivializing the 9/11 terror attacks as "some people did something." AOC, RASHIDA TLAIB LEAP TO DEFENSE OF ILHAN OMAR AFTER HER 'SOME PEOPLE DID SOMETHING' 9/11 REMARKS
“They
put us in photos when they want to show our party is diverse,” Tlaib
wrote. “However, when we ask to be at the table, or speak up about
issues that impact who we are, what we fight for & why we ran in the
first place, we are ignored. To truly honor our diversity is to never
silence us.”
Tlaib later retweeted a post by Omar, who also expressed frustration.
“I
did not run for Congress to be silent,” Omar wrote. “I did not run for
Congress to sit on the sidelines. I ran because I believed it was time
to restore moral clarity and courage to Congress. To fight and to defend
our democracy.”
Tlaib also retweeted a post by Roza Calderon, a human rights activist.
“More
and more we're realizing that POC [people of color] are used as props
by @TheDemocrats,” Calderon wrote. “When we run, we're told to wait our
turn. When we speak about our struggles, we're told we're angry. When we
ask them to stand up for us, they say we're being divisive.”
Previously,
three progressives -- U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.;
Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. – objected to a plan
by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to blacklist
organizations that assist candidates who look to challenge Democratic
incumbents in party primaries, as the progressives had done to win their
seats.
“The
@DCCC’s new rule to blacklist+boycott anyone who does business w/
primary challengers is extremely divisive & harmful to the party,”
Ocasio-Cortez wrote March 30.
“If the DCCC enacts this policy to
blacklist vendors who work with challengers,” Pressley wrote, also on
March 30, “we risk undermining an entire universe of potential
candidates and vendors - especially women and people of color - whose
ideas, energy, and innovation need a place in our party.”
Meanwhile,
other examples indicate that leading Democrats may have frustrations of
their own regarding some of the party’s newer members and the media
attention they’ve received.
“While
there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what’s
important is that we have a large number of votes on the floor of the
House,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told USA Today earlier this month
in what was interpreted as a dig at Ocasio-Cortez, who has nearly twice
as many Twitter followers as Pelosi despite being in office a little
more than two months.
In March, in a speech
at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington,
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., pointedly noted that the new
Congress had 62 freshmen Democrats.
“You hear me?” Hoyer said. “Sixty-two. Not three.”
President Trump speaks during a meeting with South Korean President Moon
Jae-in in the Oval Office of the White House on Saturday. (Associated
Press)
Apologizing over putting out fake news.
President Trump
unleashed a barrage of criticism against the New York Times in a series
of tweets Saturday, describing the newspaper as “phony” over its
coverage of his immigration policies and predicting it would cease to
exist within six years.
In his first Twitter post, the president blasted the paper for its story about his administration’s threats to release migrants into “sanctuary cities” as retaliation against Democrats.
"The
New York Times Sanctuary Cities/Immigration story today was knowingly
wrong on almost every fact," the president wrote. "They never call to
check for truth. Their sources often don’t even exist, a fraud. They
will lie & cheat anyway possible to make me look bad. In 6 years
they will be gone........."
Maggie
Haberman, the White House reporter for the Times, refuted Trump's
accusation that the paper never reached out for comment.
"POTUS
really ought to check in with his press team more often, or they with
him. NYT emailed three times for comment and press office acknowledged
receipt of emails," she tweeted.
Trump has repeatedly suggested releasing migrants into "sanctuary cities." A
statement from the Department of Homeland Security to Fox News said the
idea to release immigrant detainees onto the streets of sanctuary
cities "was floated and rejected, which ended any further discussion.”
Trump's
follow-up post said the Times “begged” its subscribers for
forgiveness over its "pathetic" 2016 election coverage of him. The tweet
referred to a November 2016 letter from Times publisher Arthur O.
Sulzberger that promised readers it would “reflect” on its coverage and
rededicate itself to reporting on America and the world honestly." "....When
I won the Election in 2016, the @nytimes had to beg their fleeing
subscribers for forgiveness in that they covered the Election (and me)
so badly. They didn’t have a clue, it was pathetic. They even apologized
to me. But now they are even worse, really corrupt reporting!," Trump
wrote.
The Times denied apologizing to Trump.
Trump
then denied a Times report that claimed he directed acting Homeland
Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan to close the U.S.-Mexico border and offered to pardon him if things went awry.
"I
never offered Pardons to Homeland Security Officials, never ordered
anyone to close our Southern Border (although I have the absolute right
to do so, and may if Mexico does not apprehend the illegals coming to
our Border), and am not “frustrated.” It is all Fake & Corrupt
News!"
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a
walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi
hotel, in Hanoi in February. (Associated Press)
President Trump on Saturday tweeted glowingly of his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that a third summit “would be good," citing their personal relationship and knowledge of “where we each stand.”
"I
agree with Kim Jong Un of North Korea that our personal relationship
remains very good, perhaps the term excellent would be even more
accurate, and that a third Summit would be good in that we fully
understand where we each stand,” Trump posted to Twitter.
“North
Korea has tremendous potential for....... ...extraordinary growth,
economic success and riches under the leadership of Chairman Kim," Trump
continued. "I look forward to the day, which could be soon, when
Nuclear Weapons and Sanctions can be removed, and then watching North
Korea become one of the most successful nations of the World!"
Trump’s
remarks come a day after North Korea’s state-run media, the Korean
Central News Agency, reported Kim said he was open to another meeting
during a speech to the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.
"We of
course place importance on resolving problems through dialogue and
negotiations," Kim said in his address. "But U.S.-style dialogue of
unilaterally pushing its demands doesn't fit us, and we have no interest
in it."
Trump and Kim first met in June 2018 in Singapore. Talks between the two leaders abruptly ended during their second meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February.
The
U.S. said the meeting ended early because of North Korea’s demand for
sanctions relief. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month
he was confident Trump and Kim would meet again.
President Trump
and a California mayor traded barbs over Twitter on Saturday, prompted
by the president's repeated threats to release detained immigrants into “sanctuary cities.”
The exchange between Trump and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf also appeared triggered, at least in part, by recent New York Times articles about the president's immigration policies.
"So
interesting to see the Mayor of Oakland and other Sanctuary Cities NOT
WANT our currently 'detained immigrants' after release due to the
ridiculous court ordered 20 day rule," Trump tweeted.
Schaaf
fired back, saying: “It’s time to stop fanning hate and division
@realDonaldTrump - I’ve been consistent and clear: #Oakland welcomes
all, no matter where you came from or how you got here.”
Trump
fired off another tweet soon after: "Just out: The USA has the absolute
legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to
Sanctuary Cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the
highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well
known or [sic] its poor management & high taxes!"
In 2017,
California passed a “sanctuary state” law limiting cooperation between
local authorities and federal immigration officials. Administration
officials said Trump's proposal to dump undocumented immigrants in
"sanctuary cities" was floated and rejected. Trump insists he is still giving the idea strong consideration, according to the Los Angeles Times.
White
House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said the administration was
working with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) to advance the plan.
"They have said
they wanted all of these illegal aliens into their communities," Gidley
said on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine." "We're working with DHS,
we're working with ICE, to try and make sure that happens because after
all, it's what they want. They should not say 'This is retribution
politically,' they should say, 'This is an olive branch."
Schaaf told NPR on Saturday that her city would accept a busload of 5,000 migrants if it had to.
"My
job as a mayor is to welcome people," she said. "I don't build walls.
It's our job to welcome everyone into our city, ensure their safety,
ensure that their families can thrive. And that is my job no matter
where those people came from or how they got there."
"This
is about an outrageous abuse of power," she continued. "The idea that
you could use human beings, families as instruments of political payback
to use public resources to exact retribution on your political
enemies."
Mayors in other cities have also said they are willing to take in migrants.
“We
have people who are routinely coming to this city. We have a whole
infrastructure that’s built up to make sure that their rights are
protected while the city of Chicago has, under the current
administration, provided funding for various groups to help support
asylum seekers and other people that are going through the immigration
court system. I expect it will continue, if not expand upon, those kinds
of resources,” said Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot.
A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a ruling that would have stopped the Trump administration from forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico as they wait for immigration courts to hear their cases.
The decision by the three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
blocked a lower ruling from taking effect and gave civil liberties
groups until Tuesday to submit arguments on why the asylum policy should
be put on hold. The government has until Wednesday to argue why it
should remain in place.
On Monday, a federal judge halted the
change to the asylum system, saying it violated U.S. law by failing to
evaluate the dangers to migrants while in Mexico.
The suit was filed by 11 Central American asylum-seekers and advocacy
groups who argue forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico puts migrants
risk given the uptick in violence there. Ninth Circuit has the second highest reversal rate at 80%.
A girl from the Mexican state of Guerrero passes rows of tents as
her family waits at a shelter of mostly Mexican and Central American
migrants to begin the process of applying for asylum Friday, April 12,
2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Associated Press)
Thousands have fled Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador in recent months amid growing gang violence and abject poverty
in the region. The ruling comes as more than 2,000 migrants made their way through Mexico on
Friday, hoping to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican authorities
said around 350 migrants broke the locks on a gate at the Guatemalan
border Friday and forced their way into the country.
The
government is asking the 9th Circuit to keep the asylum policy while the
lawsuit makes its way through the courts. It argued halting it would
endanger the public.
Central American migrants, part of a caravan hoping to reach the
U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico
on Friday. (Associated Press)
Families seeking asylum are typically released in the
U.S. with notices to appear in court. The new policy began in January
at the nation’s busiest border crossing in San Diego. More than 1,300
asylum-seekers have been to Mexico so far, according to the Mexican
government.
"I
haven't heard of anyone who's been sent back since the judge's order on
Monday," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Judy Rabinovitz said.
The Trump administration has said its stance on asylum is a response to a shortage of detention space for migrants and overwhelmed immigration officials as more migrants appear at the border each day. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bill Maher arrives at an Oscar party on Feb. 22, 2015, in
Beverly Hills, Calif. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez/AFP/Getty Images)
“Real Time” host Bill Maher warned Democrats that they'll lose the 2020 presidential election if their message on immigration is designed to appeal only to other Democrats.
Turning the immigration issue into a “woke contest” will only hand the election to President Trump, the liberal late-night host said Friday.
During
the show's panel discussion, Maher said he didn’t believe that
immigration is a top 10 issue “in reality,” but stressed that it was a
“campaign issue” on which Trump ran and won in 2016.
“If
it becomes a 'woke' contest, then the Democrats lose on this,” Maher
said. “Yes, they look better, but it’s impossible not to look better
next to him!”
Panelist Wendy Sherman, who served in the State
Department during the Obama administration, told Maher that Trump
“created this immigration crisis,” pointing to his administration’s
decisions on cutting aid to Central American countries (bullshit), separating
migrant families and “putting kids in cages.”
Maher, however, only chuckled at her remarks.
“This
is what Democrats say, which only gets other Democrats," Maher told
Sherman. "This is not the speech that is going to win any [swing]
voters. You’ve [already] got the compassion vote!”
The HBO star
credited former President Barack Obama for being able to “keep the left”
while deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., continues to ignite outrage while defending freshman colleague Rep. Ilhan Omar, this time by using a poem about the Holocaust to defend the Minnesota Democrat.
Omar
most recently stirred up controversy when remarks she made last month,
referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks as “some people did something,”
surfaced this week.
Ocasio-Cortez slammed President Donald Trump,
who shared a grim video featuring Omar’s remarks alongside footage of
the Twin Towers being attacked.
“Members
of Congress have a duty to respond to the President’s explicit attack
today,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “@IlhanMN’s life is in danger. For
our colleagues to be silent is to be complicit in the outright,
dangerous targeting of a member of Congress. We must speak out.”
She
also shared an image of the words of "First they came ... ," the famous
poem by German theologian Martin Niemöller that was inspired by the
tragedies of the Holocaust. (The words are mounted on a wall at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.)
The poem reads:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Ocasio-Cortez's
tweet sparked major backlash, with critics accusing her of trivializing
the Holocaust and slamming her for doing so in defense of Omar, who has
repeatedly fought off claims of anti-Semitism.
"There's something
deeply disturbing about AOC making Holocaust references to defend an
open and unrepentant anti-Semite who is merely being criticized," wrote
Ben Shapiro, the conservative author and commentator.
"This is
just a shameful attempt to chill speech," wrote David Harasanyi, a
senior editor at the Federalist. "It belittles both the real victims of
9/11 and the Holocaust."
"No, @aoc, you do not get to diminish the
murder of almost half my family by comparing it to criticism of your
antisemitic colleague. You should be ashamed for trying," wrote a
Twitter user identified only as @AG_Conservative.
Ocasio-Cortez landed in hot water earlier this week
while attacking U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a Navy veteran who
served in Afghanistan, for his criticism of Omar, telling him he should
“go do something” about domestic terrorism. She has also referred to
criticism against Omar as “incitement of violence” against women of color.
Another
freshman lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., declared that
taking Omar’s comments out of context was a “pure racist act.”
Brian Fallon, former press secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign
George Mason University is a public research university with its
main campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Initially founded as a branch of the
University of Virginia in 1949, it became an independent institution in
1972.
A top aide to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign -- now leading a liberal “dark money” group -- is backing a student effort at George Mason University to get Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh fired from teaching a summer course over misconduct allegations.
A
student group calling itself “Mason For Survivors” began circulating a
petition last month, so far attracting nearly 5,000 signatures, urging
to “terminate AND void ALL contracts and affiliation with Brett
Kavanaugh at George Mason University” on the grounds that the justice
was accused of misconduct.
But the campaign is
being given a partisan boost thanks to Brian Fallon, former press
secretary for Clinton's 2016 campaign, who’s now in charge of Demand
Justice, a liberal advocacy group that doesn’t disclose its funding.
Fallon
and his group are paying for Facebook ads that target anyone linked
with George Mason University, urging them to sign the petition, in
addition to signing a separate petition that calls upon the Democrats in
Congress to investigate Kavanaugh, the HuffPost reported.
“Brett
Kavanaugh’s performance during his testimony in front of the Senate was
a disgrace. His blatant partisan attacks and hostile behavior towards
senators calls into question his ability to serve as a fair and
impartial judge. His conduct undermines the legitimacy of his decisions
and the entire Supreme Court,” read the ad on Facebook on Friday. “We’re
calling on Congress to open an investigation into Kavanaugh right now.”
Fallon
justified the move in a news release, saying the allegations raised
during the confirmation hearing last year, in his view, were credible.
“Brett
Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women
whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated,” Fallon said.
“His confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt,
and he should not be given a platform to teach. We stand with survivors
and urge the George Mason University administration to fire Kavanaugh.”
“Brett
Kavanaugh has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women
whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated. His
confirmation to the Supreme Court does not absolve him of guilt, and he
should not be given a platform to teach." — Brian Fallon, former aide to Hillary Clinton
Kavanaugh
is set to teach students of the university’s Antonin Scalia Law School
next summer in the United Kingdom as a distinguished visiting professor,
with the class reportedly having no more spaces left due to
overwhelming interest.
The Mason For Survivors group, claiming to
be a “student-led advocacy group in solidarity with survivors,” also
urges the university to release “any and all documents” concerning the
hiring of Kavanaugh, in addition to holding a town hall and a formal
apology by university officials.
The school’s top officials are
expected at a town hall next Tuesday, where they will face questions
over the hiring of Kavanaugh.
But the school has so far rebuffed
the activists’ demands and issued a statement affirming the hiring of
Kavanaugh on the grounds that the university seeks to have students
being taught by the “most influential legal experts in the nation.”
"I
respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s
Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in
high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice." — George Mason University President Angel Cabrera
“I
respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s
Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in
high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice,” Angel
Cabrera, the university’s president, said last month.
“The law
school has determined that the involvement of a U.S. Supreme Court
Justice contributes to making our law program uniquely valuable for our
students. And I accept their judgment,” he added.
“This
decision, controversial as it may be, in no way affects the
university’s ongoing efforts to eradicate sexual violence from our
campuses.”
A girl from the Mexican state of Guerrero passes rows of tents as
her family waits at a shelter of mostly Mexican and Central American
migrants to begin the process of applying for asylum Friday, April 12,
2019, in Tijuana, Mexico. (Associated Press)
Central American migrants, part of a caravan hoping to reach the
U.S. border, walk on the shoulder of a road in Frontera Hidalgo, Mexico
on Friday. (Associated Press)
CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
