AOC faces backlash for using 'First they came ... ' Holocaust poem in defense of Omar

IDIOT

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.”

Ex-Clinton official leads 'dark money' effort to boot Kavanaugh from teaching gig

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.”

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Gregg Jarrett: Avenatti may need to get used to a jumpsuit

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Thursday that attorney Michael Avenatti may have to get used to wearing jumpsuits rather than an Armani suit and Jesse Watters accused the media of overlooking the real person in favor of his anti-Trump message.
“I've read through the 61 page, 36 indictment. If the feds can prove just a fraction of this then Avenatti better throw away the Armani suit and get used to a jumpsuit because the feds say he was essentially the Bernie Madoff of lawyers running a Ponzi scheme stealing from one client to pay another to pay his predators,” Jarrett said on “Hannity.”
“The lavish lifestyle and the jet that he had and then the pyramid eventually just came crashing around him. And the behavior in his victims, this is just unconscionable for a lawyer. And it's also, If proven, criminal.”
Avenatti  was charged on Thursday with an additional 36 indictments; he was accused of fraud, false statements, obstruction and nonpayment of taxes. In March, he was charged for attempting to extort Nike for $20 million.
Watters, the host of "Watters' World," criticized the media for not looking into Avenatti and pushing an anti-Trump narrative.
“He was a complete scam artist and the media never kick the tires. They never checked under the hood because they didn't want to know they put him right out in the middle of the showroom because they know what moves merchandise and what moves merchandise in the media is Trump hate and impeachment,” Watters said.
The Media Research Center Thursday released research that showed Avenatti made 254 TV appearances in the last year.
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

White House proposed releasing immigrant detainees into ‘sanctuary cities’ to target political foes

Why Not Do It ??

 

The Trump administration proposed releasing immigrant detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities”--including San Francisco-- on at least two occasions within the past six months as retribution against the president’s political enemies, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed Department of Homeland Security officials and emails.
The proposal was first floated in November amid reports of a large migrant caravan from Central America making its way to the southern border. The other time it was considered-- in February-- occurred during a standoff between Trump and Democrats over border wall funding.
It was rejected both times by immigration agencies, the report said. A Nov. 16 email from the White House to officials at several agencies reportedly asked whether migrants could be arrested and bused to “small-and mid-sized sanctuary cities” and other Democratic strongholds.
The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News early Friday for comment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was considered one of the areas targeted, according to the paper. Pelosi blasted the plan Thursday, calling it “despicable” to use “human beings — including little children — as pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants.”
The proposal was intended to alleviate crowded detention centers, the White House told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). An ICE official responded the inquiry was littered with budgetary and liability issues, but said “there are PR risks as well.” Trump has repeatedly blasted “sanctuary cities,” areas where local authorities refuse to cooperate with immigration agencies.
“This was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any further discussion,” a White House statement to the paper said.

Video of Candace Owens firing back at Ted Lieu nears CSPAN record

The viral clip of conservative commentator Candace Owens accusing Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., of distorting her comments in such fashion that he must “believe black people are stupid” has become the most-viewed C-SPAN Twitter video from a House hearing.
The Twitter video of the exchange so far accumulated nearly 6.8 million views and appears to be on track to be most watched C-SPAN clip from a House hearing on all platforms.
CANDACE OWENS EXPLODES AT TED LIEU MID-HEARING AFTER HE PLAYS SHORT CLIP OF HER HITLER COMMENTS
“In less than 24 hours, this video is the most watched C-SPAN Twitter video from a House hearing (4.47 million views),” tweeted Jeremy Art, C-SPAN’s social media senior specialist, before the video got another 2.3 million views.
He added that it’s not yet the most watched C-SPAN video from a House hearing ever as it still lacks a couple of millions views – 5 million at the time of the tweet, though the gap has been cut in half since – to be on par with a video from a House hearing in 2017 in which Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was criticized for not being able to “come up with one example of discrimination that you would stand up for students.”
In the explosive video, Lieu fired the first shot at Owens by playing a short audio recording of her previous remarks at a conference in December, which were widely circulated in February, where she argued that she doesn’t have a problem with “nationalism.”
“I think the definition gets poisoned by elites that want globalism. Globalism is what I don't want.  When we say ‘nationalism,’ the first thing people think about — at least in America — is Hitler,” she is heard saying.
“You know, he was a national socialist, but if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK then, fine. The problem is, he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize. He wanted everyone to be German. ...”
Owens fired back at Lieu, accusing him of intentionally misrepresenting her views to drive a false narrative.
“I think it’s pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety,” Owens said.

“I think it’s pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety.”
— Candace Owens

“He is assuming that black people will not go and pursue the full two-hour clip. He purposefully cut off -- and you didn't hear the question that was asked of me. He's trying to present as if I was launching a defense of Hitler in Germany, when in fact the question that was presented to me was pertaining to whether I believed in nationalism, and that nationalism was bad,” she continued.
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Julian Assange, arrested for damaging leaks, claims to be a journalist

The images were stunning as we saw Julian Assange led away from his sanctuary of nearly seven years, looking haggard and disoriented with a Santa Claus beard.
And moments after British police took him from the Ecuadorean embassy, the media debate erupted.
Is this a fugitive from justice, a man who damaged America, which he detests, by releasing classified files about our troops?
Or is this a man functioning as a digital-age journalist, as his lawyers contend, who was blowing the whistle under the banner of press freedom?
I don't know how the legal case will shake out, or even whether U.K. authorities will extradite Assange to the U.S. But I do know this: Conservatives and liberals, at different times, have embraced Assange depending on his targets.
His abrupt arrest, once Ecuador got fed up with harboring him, was tied to a sealed indictment brought last year by the Trump Justice Department.
That was rooted in the document dump that the Wikileaks founder orchestrated back in 2010. The group teamed up with an Army private, Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning), who was sentenced to 35 years for leaking classified files.
Prosecutors say Assange agreed to help Manning solve a password on a Pentagon computer that allowed access to classified documents, and encouraged Manning to keep digging for information.
The leaks exposed abuse of detainees by the Iraqi military and higher-than-reported civilian death tolls in Iraq, as well as 250,000 diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies that included sensitive talks that embarrassed the country. A military judge convicted Manning of aiding the enemy.
When Barack Obama, overruling his Pentagon chief, commuted Manning's sentence after nearly seven years — this following a couple of suicide attempts — many liberal commentators approved of the move. But Paul Ryan called it "outrageous," and John McCain said Manning had engaged in "espionage" and put American troops at risk. (As president, Trump retweeted a message slamming Obama for "pardoning a traitor.")
But Republican attitudes toward Wikileaks flipped during 2016, when the group, accused by U.S. officials of working with Russia, hacked into a treasure trove of Democratic emails.
While Nancy Pelosi called the hacking an "electronic Watergate," candidate Trump at various times said: "Wikileaks has provided things that are unbelievable" about Hillary Clinton. "Boy, that Wikileaks has done a job on her, hasn't it?" "Wikileaks, some new stuff, some brutal stuff." And: "I love Wikileaks."
The president was a bit less effusive yesterday. He deflected reporters' questions on the arrest, saying, "I know nothing about Wikileaks. It's not my thing."
So Assange, once hated by the right and defended by the left, went through a metamorphosis when he was damaging the Hillary campaign — an all-too-vivid example of Washington's fickle loyalties.
Assange's lawyer played the media card yesterday, telling reporters that "this precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the United States for having published truthful information about the United States ... Publishing of documents, of videos of killings of innocent civilians, exposure of war crimes — this is journalism."
While the case might have legal implications for legitimate reporters who publish classified material — and typically withhold documents that could endanger lives, sources and methods — Assange is an activist who cares nothing for American national security. Instead, he is using journalism as a fig leaf for his reckless conduct.

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