AIPAC Leads Other Jewish Groups, Lawmakers Condemning Israel Banning Tlaib + Omar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, said Reps. Rashida Tlaib, center, and Ilhan Omar, right, provided an itinerary that "revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy.” (Laura E. Adkins for JTA/Getty Images)

Loud voices — both Democrats and Republicans — living in America and in Israel expressed condemnation and in some cases outrage over Israel’s decision on Thursdayto ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend.

Prominent pro-Israel group AIPAC was joined by other establishment Jewish groups to criticize Omar and Tlaib’s support for the movement to boycott Israel. But like others who have their differences with the two House reps, AIPAC said that Israel should nonetheless allow sitting members of the United States Congress to enter the country and see it for themselves, writes JTA ( Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

“We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution,” the organization tweeted, referring to the boycott Israel movement. “We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand.”

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, had previously said Israel would not bar any members of Congress. But it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flip-flopped minutes after President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that Israel “would show great weakness” if it let in the two congresswomen.

Tlaib, D-Mich, and Omar, D-Minn., are supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. Under Israeli law, BDS supporters can be prevented from entering the country. They have also at times invoked what critics call anti-Semitic tropes in criticizing the Jewish state.

The New York Times breaks down the specifics of the two-year-old Israeli law used to bar Tlaib aned Omar.

JTA shares specifics on individuals and groups supporting Netanyahu’s decision and those opposing it, as well as newly posted Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren criticize Israel’s decision to bar Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D) Introduces Bill To Standardize Health Care Screenings At US Border

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D) Introduces Bill To Standardize Health Care Screenings At US Border

In the cage match between Trump and the Squad, it's easy to miss enlightened comments about the Mexico border migrant crisis like the one Democratic Congresswoman Lauren Underwood just delivered on 'Morning Joe'.

Congresswoman Underwood introduced The U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening and Standards Act, which would standardized processes and training to ensure consistent medical screenings for migrants in US custody at the Mexico border, according to a news release.

"We progressive women aren't going anywhere," was her final statement. Underwood never embraced all of the Squad's positions or style; not did she try to separate herself from them. But as a Democratic woman of color who defeated a Republican in Illinois’s 14th congressional district in 2018, she's in that camp derided by our most left-wing voices. As if 'she' is the problem in executing the Democratic agenda and not Republicans!

Linda Sarsour Accuses Nancy Pelosi Of Upholding Patriarchy As Ilhan Omar Calls Obama A Pretty-Face Murderer

Linda Sarsour Accuses Nancy Pelosi Of Upholding Patriarchy As Ilhan Omar Calls Obama A Pretty-Face Murderer

Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour had choice words for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as House Democrats struggled this week to respond to Rep. Ilhan Omar accusing Jewish lawmakers of displaying "allegiance to a foreign country."

Sarsour, who served as co-chair of the Women's March in 2017 and 2019, accused Pelosi of "doing the dirty work of powerful white men" by condemning Omar’s words, writes the San Francisco Chronicle. .

"Nancy is a typical white feminist upholding the patriarchy doing the dirty work of powerful white men," she wrote in a Facebook post. "God forbid the men are upset - no worries, Nancy to the rescue to stroke their egos."

Friday night, Rep. Omar stole the narrative yet again, igniting a new controversy by appearing to bash former president Barack Obama as some sort of “war-mongering, neoliberal shill”, according to Vanity Fair.

Omar says the “hope and change” offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. Recalling the “caging of kids” at the U.S.-Mexico border and the “droning of countries around the world” on Obama’s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor.

“We can’t be only upset with Trump. … His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,” Omar says. “And that’s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don’t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.”

'Knock Down the House' Documentary Featuring AOC + Three 2018 Democratic Candidates Sold To Netflix for $10 Million

'Knock Down the House' Documentary Featuring AOC + Three 2018 Democratic Candidates Sold To Netflix for $10 Million

The Kickstarter campaign read: When her daughter died from a preventable medical condition, businesswoman Amy Vilela of Las Vegas didn't know what to do with her anger about America's broken health care system. Bronx-born Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to work double shifts in a restaurant to save her family’s home from foreclosure after losing her father. Cori Bush, a Saint Louis nurse, was drawn into the streets when the shooting of Michael Brown brought protests and tanks into her neighborhood. Paula Jean Swearengin buried family and neighbors to illnesses caused by West Virginia’s coal industry — and worries her children will be next. All four women understood that their lives were affected by politics, but none had considered running for office themselves. Until now.

424 backers pledged $28,111 to help bring the documentary ‘Knock Down The House: A Documentary’ to life. Created by Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick, ‘Knock Down The House’ won the Sundance’s Festival Favorite Award, a fact that most certainly impacted the recent sale of all distribution rights to the film to Netflix for $10 million. Deadline reports that NEON, Focus, Hulu and Amazon were also vying for the feature

Kamala Harris Eyes March 3, 2020 California Primary | Early Voting Timed With Iowa + New Hampshire

Harris in Los Angeles with beneficiaries of the DREAM Act—which the senator has made a priority to protect. Photographed by Zoe Ghertner,Vogue, April 2018

As America readies another presidential election season and trained journalists are talking Iowa and New Hampshire — two states that do not at all mirror the voter makeup of America or the wins of the 2018 mid-terms — Sen. Kamala Harris is beating down door in California. Not content with a wait and see strategy, Senator Harris is locking down endorsements and financial contributions in her new Super Tuesday March 3 primary state — and her home state — that could give her an enormous edge in winning the Democratic nomination. The decision of California to move up its primary from being last in the country makes it suddenly very relevant.

If she has anything but stellar success in California, writes Politico, her presidential aspirations for 2020 could end quickly. Kamala Harris has a true political machine in California and no home-state challengers. Not that Harris isn’t busy making appearances out of California.

In particular, she’s courting voters in another Super Tuesday state — South Carolina. If Biden runs, he does have close relationships with African American voters in the South Carolina, but it’s pretty inconceivable that African American women won’t break big for Sen. Harris in South Carolina.

Mn. Rep Ilhan Omar Rebuked Over Anti-Semitic Tweet, Faces Loss Of Seat On Foreign Relations Committee

Mn. Rep Ilhan Omar Rebuked Over Anti-Semitic Tweet, Faces Loss Of Seat On Foreign Relations Committee

In a dramatic statement delivered on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are calling on Minn. Rep Ilhan Omar to apologize for tweeting the strong suggestion that political donations drive politiciams’ support for Israel.

In the dramatic statement, House Democratic leadership said that while "legitimate criticism of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate," Omar's "use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's top supporters is deeply offensive."

Democrats Court Rural Southern Voters With Stacey Abrams’ State of the Union Response

Democrats Court Rural Southern Voters With Stacey Abrams’ State of the Union Response

By Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Scieence and Director of the African American Studies Program, University of Florida. First published on The Conversation

In a brief, direct and optimistic speech about fighting immigrant scapegoating, racism and voter suppression, Stacey Abrams celebrated diversity in her Democratic rebuttal to Donald Trump’s divisive 2019 State of the Union address.

“We will create a stronger America together,” she said.

Abrams is the first African-American woman to deliver a State of the Union response in the 53-year history of this tradition. She is the first black woman to be nominated by a major party to run for governor. Before that, she was the first African-American ever to serve as House minority leader in the Georgia General Assembly.

Her State of the Union response has increased speculation that she is a rising political starwith a bright future in the Democratic Party.

By choosing Abrams to give the State of the Union response, Democrats were clearly reaching out to African-Americans and women, a key base for the party.

But Abrams’ speech also spoke to an often-overlooked constituency the Democratic Party may not have even thought about when they picked her. It’s a constituency Abrams has already cultivated: rural Southerners of color.

Abrams campaigned in both urban and rural counties last year, defying the logic of a Democratic Party that tends to court big city voters while leaving rural Americans to be won over by Republicans like Donald Trump.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Emerging As Unlikely, Egoless Unifying Force Among Democrats

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Emerging As Unlikely, Egoless Unifying Force Among Democrats

No freshman member of the new House of Representatives has gained more national media attention than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Less than one week after her victory in the November 2018 midterm elections, AOC joined environmental activists in a protest in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. Politico published a story that AOC denied, advancing the theory that she was encouraging activists to primary Democratic incumbents in the 2020 elections.

The Republican obsession with Ocasio-Cortez has bordered on full-frontal misogyny, with many Dems reporting that “a cloud” of uncertainty hovered over her. Was she determined to build her own disruptive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brand? Or was she truly interested in passing collaborative legislation with fellow Democfrats.

Writing for Vanity Fair, Abigail Tracy says that AOC has emerged “as an unlikely unifying force for Democrats — and a surprisingly egoless champion of a new, progressive politics.”

American Women's Satisfaction W/How They Are Treated Hits All-Time Low, But Men Think We Are Fine

American Women's Satisfaction W/How They Are Treated His All-Time Low, But Men Think We Are Fine

How interesting that Republican white men are saying that Democrats are undoing all the progress women have made. Politico has photographed the 36 new women members of the House. 35 are Dems; 1 lone WV woman is a Republican.

I would say that Republican white men are really running scared if electing women to Congress -- unlike their white men party -- represents a step backwards for women in 2019. Let that sink in. The party that elected 1 freshman woman to the House is telling the party that elected 35 freshmen woman to the House that we are setting women back.

Hey, boys, maybe your War on Women worked so well that once and for all, you stirred up a heap of trouble for yourselves. As for your inner fears . . . you probably should be runnin' scared.

For most of you -- the ones left -- you embrace a version of Christianity that says women must be subservient to men and obey you. No wonder you're confused about the hurricane arriving in DC. All your witches on brooms jokes will get you nowhere. DEAL WITH THEM. And just remember that you and your egregious, anti-people policies are a key reason they are so pissed off.

Related: Women’s satisfaction with how society treats them hits a record low. Marketwatch

Eye: KKW Beauty Classic Red Crème Lipstick Is Perfect Color For Democratic Women Going Bold!

Eye: KKW Beauty Classic Red Crème Lipstick Is Perfect Color For Democratic Women Going Bold!

Superwoman Kim Kardashian is set to fire up followers worldwide with the launch of her first, straight-up red lipstick. Using her own incredible star power, Kardashian West has used her KKW Beauty Instagram pages to create the buildup to launching KKW Beauty’s Classic Red Crème Lipstick online and in a pop-up at South Coast Plaza on Friday Jan. 25. Images by Greg Swales.

There’s no doubt that the new shade — which is very Old Hollywood glam — creates a new wing of the previously neutrals, nudes, and pinks KKW Beauty assortment. Is KKW becoming as bold as America’s new women presidential candidates, and the newly-elected Democratic party lady posse that has arrived in Washington, DC?

I seem to recall that Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was just sworn in as the youngest woman ever to serve in Congress, used the public response to her red lipstick as a means of honoring a Supreme Court justice.

SC Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Votes Against Trump Immigration Rules After Cancer Surgery

SC Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Votes Against Trump Immigration Rules After Cancer Surgery

As the Trump wrecking machine increasingly rattles much of America, progressives, Democrats and centrists alike got an unexpected blow in the gut on Friday with news that beloved Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, was in surgery at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. Notorious RBG, as the pop icon Justice is called, is recovering from her third bout with cancer with the removal of two nodules from her left lung.

Sloan Kettering doctors insist that Ginsburg’s lung cancer did not spread to other areas of her body, leaving weeping Americans believing that she will make a full recovery.

Weeks ago, Ginsburg fell in her office, fracturing several ribs. During her treatment, scans revealed the cancerous growths. Even cancer surgery didn’t get in the Supreme’s way, as Her Honor cast a deciding vote from her hospital bed against US President Donald Trump’s attempts to place new restrictions on migrants seeking asylum in the US.

New NY State Atty Gen Letitia James Prepares To Launch Massive Trump Business Investigation

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo campaigning with then candidate for NY State Atty General Letitia James.

New NY State Atty Gen Letitia James Prepares To Launch Massive Trump Business Investigation

Besides Nancy Pelosi, another bad-ass lady boss has entered Trump's sweet dreams.

Newly-elected New York Attorney General Letitia James, has reached out to former US Atty General Loretta Lynch to be part of her transition team, with an eye on bringing in experts for its Trump-related investigations, writes NBC News.

Writing Hillary Women News on FB for 3 yrs. I know well the mountain of dead bodies in Trump's namesake business. And the NY Feds have watched the Trump family since the mid-80s, preferring to monitor his ties to the Russian mob and money-laundering -- leading to numerous arrests -- and not going after Trump himself. Trump was the honey bait, if you will.

When Trump supporters start screaming that this is all Trump hate, it's important to understand that Trump's brazen actions now threaten democracy in America, and so both the feds and state legal entities are moving in on Trump as part of an international network up to no good.

If the Zembla videos out of The Netherlands are correct -- and they have been on everything so far -- the missing piece in the public domain is the relationship of Israel's right wing to Russia. Israel is the one big chess piece not openly on the legal chess board. Not yet. But Russia has courted Israel's right-wing billionaires extensively. Jared Kushner is, of course, a major conduit in the Zembla analysis.

Zembla is the equivalent of '60 Minutes' in the Netherlands.

The Daily Beast writes Thursday that the ‘Russia investigation’ is set to go global. In court filings due to drop in 2019, prosecutors will unveil Middle Eastern countries’ attempts to influence U.S. politics.

Various witnesses affiliated with the Trump campaign have been questioned about their conversations with deeply connected individuals from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, according to people familiar with the probe. Topics in those meetings ranged from the use of social-media manipulation to help install Trump in the White House to the overthrow of the regime in Iran.

This week has been a blockbuster headache for Trump, with so much breaking news that it’s almost impossible to track all the lawsuits and investigations surround Trump and the Trump family.

Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

OPRAH URGES HER 42 MILLION TWITTER FANS TO HEAD TO THE POLLS, SITTING ALONGSIDE HER LONGTIME FRIEND, NBC NEWS’ MARIA SHRIVER IN A NEW PUBLIC SERVICE AD. THE MEDIA MOGUL SAYS ABOUT VOTING “OUR COUNTRY DEPENDS UPON IT.”

Oprah Heads To Georgia As Maya Angelou's Words Remind Us To Use Our Anger By Voting

A Fragile American Dream

AOC’s reflection on ‘Maya’s Quilt of Life’ comes when Oprah Winfrey is headed to Georgia on Thursday, where she will campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. The candidate is deadlocked in a tight race with current Georgia secretary of state Republican Brian Kemp.

Oprah urges her 42 million Twitter fans to head to the polls, sitting alongside her longtime friend, NBC News’ Maria Shriver in a new public service ad. The media mogul says about voting “Our country depends upon it.”

“We’re both independents. I don’t think a lot of people know that,” Winfrey — who endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election and called herself a “100 percent supporter” of his during the 2012 race — told the camera.

Oprah will join Stacey Abrams at two town hall conversations, according to BuzzFeed News. And like Will Farrell before her this week, Oprah will spend time knocking on doors.

Not only would Abrams become the first African American woman elected as a US governor, her Republican opponent Brian Kemp as already been found guilty of substantial voter suppression efforts in the state of Georgia. Kemp has once again put the state’s minority voters under siege, as the courts have stepped in yet again to insure a reasonably fair and honest election in the state.

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Across America, millions of citizens are heeding the words of Maya Angelou, and will declare — one way or the other next Tuesday — the state of America’s soul, civic spirit and historical progress on the rights of all people, not only white people:

“If you’re not angry, you’re either a stone, or you’re too sick to be angry. You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger, yes. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.”

AOC shares this commitment to never shut up, because the future of America depends upon truthful voices as white nationalism threatens to sweep our beloved country.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Report Concluding Strong Evidence Of Her American Indian Ancestor

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Report Concluding Strong Evidence Of Her American Indian Ancestor

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called Trump’s bluff, releasing Monday morning a DNA test suggesting “strong evidence” that she has a distant Native American ancestor.

The DNA analysis, by Stanford University professor Carlos D. Bustamante concludes that “the vast majority” of Warren’s ancestry is European but that “the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the individual’s pedigree, likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”

The finding supports Warren’s family story about her Oklahoma upbringing that her great-great-great-grandmother O.C. Sarah Smith was all or partially Native American.

At a July 2018 political rally in Montana, Trump claimed that he would donate $1 million to Warren if she took a DNA test “and it shows you’re an Indian.”

After the early morning release of her DNA test, Warren tweeted Trump a reminded of his promise, advising him: “Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center” an organization the senator described as “a nonprofit working to protect Native women from violence.”

Dem Women Pramila Jayapal, Tammy Duckworth & Kirstin Gillibrand Join Capitol Protest On Family Separation

About 2000 women came together in Washington DC on Thursday to protest the Trump administration's current zero-tolerance immigration policy, one that separates families and has three-year-old toddlers in immigration court, facing a judge alone and without legal counsel. 

The Thursday protesters marched from the Dept of Justice to the Hart Senate building, where they joined arms, sat down and chanted in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. In response, about 600 women including Washington state Rep. Pramila Jayapal were arrested, writes ELLE. 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill) rolled into the middle of the protest with her daughter in two, and always impeccably groomed New York Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand hit the pavement, joining arms with the protesters. 

Brains Over Brawn: MSNBC Ratings Up 30% As Fox News Declines 13% 2018 Q1

Brains Over Brawn: MSNBC Ratings Up 30% As Fox News Declines 13% 2018 Q1

Democratic strategists are seeing another reason for optimism about the midterms: soaring ratings for liberal-leaning MSNBC are up 30 percent over last year, while Fox News and CNN both lost viewers from the first quarter of 2017 to the first quarter of 2018 — dropping 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

I say the ratings surge 1) yes, represents the growing resurgence of the Democratic party but

2) MSNBC has also brought multiple Republican or now Independent never-Trumpers to its voice. Many of the most left-leaning progressives believe that MSNBC has sold its soul and are not happy about these changes.

I say the results confirm the same research posted last night about the new Democratic party: more female than ever; more educated, strategic and thoughtful; younger by far than the Republican party; more interested in solutions as opposed to daily rants Trump style; and --yes -- totally committed to a diverse, multicultural, safe America, environmental action and protection, gender and LGBTQ equality, economic justice and -- I repeat -- progressive business solutions to the problems of 21st century America. Apologies for obvious omissions.

Government alone cannot get us out of this mess.

So FOX News makes us crazy with their outrageous assault on everyone but Trump. But their ratings are down 13% while MSNBC is up 30%. Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow has the #2 show on cable news and sometimes she does beat Hannity, who did not get a college degree. Rachel is on the move, Hannity is not.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth Gives Birth To Daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey

Sen. Tammy Duckworth Gives Birth To Daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey

Democrat Senator Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) gave birth to a daughter named Maile Pearl Bowlsbey on Monday. The event made Duckworth the first US senator to give birth while in office. 

Duckworth said she and her husband, Bryan Bowlsbey, and their other daughter, Abigail, “couldn’t be happier to welcome little Maile Pearl as the newest addition to our family.”

“We’re also so grateful for the love and support of our friends and family, as well as our wonderful medical teams for everything they’ve done to help us in our decades-long journey to complete our family,” she said in a statement.

Sen. Duckworth, 50, said former Senator Daniel K. Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii, “was able to bless her name for us before his death last week. “His help in naming both of our daughters means he will always be with us,” she added.

Cynthia Nixon Announced New York State Governor Run With Zero Experience, Not Even School Board

Cynthia Nixon Announced New York State Governor Run With Zero Experience, Not Even School Board

After the epic problems associated with Donald Trump, I don't know if an activist with no experience serving in office is qualified to be governor of New York. But Cynthia Nixon of 'Sex and the City' fame is undaunted, announcing on Monday that she's running for New York governor, declaring herself as a progressive alternative to incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo. 

On Tuesday, former Manhattan City Council speaker and one-time mayoral candidate Christine Quinn slammed Nixon as an "unqualified lesbian." Ouch!

“Cynthia Nixon was opposed to having a qualified lesbian become mayor of New York City,” Quinn told the New York Post. “Now she wants to be an unqualified lesbian to be the governor of New York. You have to be qualified and have experience. She isn’t qualified to be the governor.” (Quinn is a lesbian and Nixon is bisexual and currently married to a woman.)

The comment was generally perceived as payback for Nixon choosing to back current New York mayor Bill de Blasio when Quinn was leading de Blasio in the polls. Quinn lost the election and in 2015, she was hired by Cuomo as a special adviser. Note that Cuomo and de Blasio have a particularly difficult relationship.