Tag: GOP racism

Senate chairman vows fight over Confederacy issue

Inhofe plans to water down language requiring name change for bases honoring Confederate generals

Oklahoma Republican James M. Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he will try to dilute his committee’s newly adopted proposal that would require the Defense Department to rename bases and other assets named after Confederates.

The committee approved a fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill on Wednesday evening. The measure includes an amendment by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to establish a commission that would make recommendations on how, not whether, to change the names of bases, ships and more. The Pentagon would have three years to change the names.

The committee adopted the amendment by voice vote during closed-door deliberations. But Inhofe told reporters he does not agree with the provision, and he indicated precisely how he might try to weaken it, either on the Senate floor or in conference. Continue reading.

What Republicans really mean when they talk about ‘law and order’

AlterNet logoIt is worth remembering what Donald Trump said about law enforcement during his speech at the 2016 Republican convention.

An attack on law enforcement is an attack on all Americans. I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: when I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order our country.

I will work with, and appoint, the best prosecutors and law enforcement officials in the country to get the job done. In this race for the White House, I am the Law And Order candidate.

For a party that vacillated between being post-truth and post-policy, the mantra of “law and order” has always served as a dog whistle to the racists in their ranks, which effectively rallied the troops when Trump promised to crack down on “those people.” Continue reading.

Here are the 2 historical inflection points that turned the GOP into a threat to democracy

AlterNet logoFor years now we’ve known that Donald Trump lied and cheated in his business dealings. We know that—at a minimum—he welcomed Russian interference in the 2016 election and that he obstructed justice to thwart the investigation of those efforts. We know that he extorted the Ukrainian president to get dirt on his political opponent and then covered it up by obstructing investigations in congress.

What wasn’t clear until last week is how far the Republican Party, particularly in the Senate, would go to enable the president’s abuse of power. It has now become clear that not only will they exonerate Trump, but they also refused to call witnesses who would document his guilt. That is why so many people are beginning to contemplate the demise of our democracy—and rightly so. Facing that possibility raises the question of how Republicans got to the point that they are willing to risk our democracy for the sake of Donald Trump.

Any attempt to explore the historical roots of current events is an endless process. That’s because there are no periods (as in punctuation) in history. Focusing on one point in history as the cause inevitably leads to an exploration of what led up to that moment, sending us back even further to find its antecedents. Continue reading.

Trump’s Former ‘Christian Liaison’ Says Deepwater Horizon Disaster Was God’s Punishment for Obama Israel Division

Televangelist Frank Amedia, Donald Trump’s “liaison for Christian policy” during the 2016 presidential race, claims the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 was God’s punishment for President Obama’s snubbing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and support for a two-state solution in Israel.

Speaking last week at the National Apostolic and Prophetic Gathering in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Amedia tied a diplomatic slight to one of the greatest environmental crises in United States history.

At the time, news outlets reported then-President Barack Obama left contentious talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to have dinner with his wife and daughters. In his speech, Amedia blames that snub for both an earthquake in Alaska and the high-pressure methane gas explosion that destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

View the complete August 14 article by K. Thor Jensen on The Newsweek website here.

5 Things To Know About The Top Republican Who Said Rich Jews Bought Congress

Rep. Tom Emmer has been accused of anti-Semitism after he sent a letter to fellow Republican officeholders claiming that three Jewish Democratic billionaires had “bought control of Congress for the Democrats.”

Here’s what you need to know:

The letter sparked backlash:

Emmer, a third-term congressman representing Minnesota’s exurban Sixth District, is the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which advises and raises money for Republicans running for Congress. A letter he sent to NRCC members in March, which was first reportedby the American Jewish World newspaper last week, claimed that the Trump administration’s good works were being covered up by “biased media and hundreds of millions of dollars of anti-Republican propaganda put out by liberal special interests, funded by deep-pocketed far-left billionaires George Soros, Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg.”

View the complete August 6 article by Aiden Pink on the Forward website here.

Graham threat to bust panel rules roils Senate tensions

The Hill logoTensions are boiling over in the Senate over Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) threat to ram through legislation to overhaul U.S. asylum laws, including changing the number of days minors crossing the border can be held in custody. 

The fight is the latest high-profile battle on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Graham says he’s ready to waive panel rules to force a committee vote Thursday on his legislation.

Graham’s bill touches on the detentions of families who cross the border, as well as their possible separations, one of the most sensitive issues in politics right now.

View the complete August 1 article by Jordain Carney on The Hill website here.

DNC on Court Ruling Against Citizenship Census Question

DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement after a U.S. District Court judge ordered the Trump Administration to remove a question about citizenship from the 2020 census:

“Donald Trump needs to stop using the census as a political tool to disempower Latinos and communities of color. This ruling is a victory for our democracy and our values of equality and opportunity for all. Nobody is fooled by this administration’s attempt to intimidate and undercount immigrant communities, or take away states’ fair share of resources and representation. And Democrats will continue to fight Trump and the Republican Party’s transparent attack on our Constitution.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert falsely says George Soros helped take property from fellow Jews

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) is coming under criticism for falsely claiming in an interview that billionaire philanthropist George Soros, known for his funding of liberal and pro-democracy groups, “helped take the property” owned by fellow Jews.

Patrick Gaspard, president of Soros’s Open Society Foundations, sent a letter to Gohmert on Thursday afternoon asking him to apologize for the “disturbing and false anti-Semitic slur.”

In an interview Thursday morning with Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney, Gohmert spoke about Google’s plans to build a censored search engine in China. At one point in the interview, Gohmert pivoted from discussing the tech giant to making accusations against Soros, who is frequently the subject of conspiracy theories and in October was among the prominent critics of President Trump to whom a Florida man allegedly mailed pipe bombs.

View the complete December 6 article by Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

GOP presses ahead in casting Soros as threat amid criticism that attacks are anti-Semitic


The billionaire philanthropist has long been a point of conversation for Fox network hosts and guests alike. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)

Republicans pressed ahead in casting financier George Soros as a threat, shrugging off criticism that the attacks are anti-Semitic, days after a fervent supporter of President Trump was charged with sending a mail bomb to Soros’s home and a gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

The National Republican Congressional Committee continued airing an ad Monday criticizing a Minnesota Democratic candidate and Iraq War veteran over his job at a foundation funded in part by Soros. The Michigan Republican Party promoted a digital ad depicting Soros among forces “looking to rig Michigan’s elections.”

On Friday, hours before the arrest and charges in the mail bomb case, the GOP nominee for Florida governor described what he called the threat posed by “Soros-backed activists.”

The attacks on the 88-year-old Soros, a multibillionaire who has underwritten left-leaning civic groups and political campaigns in the United States and abroad, come amid a larger effort by Republicans to portray protests on the political left as “mob” tactics as they seek to rouse base voters. But the attempted bombing of Soros and other prominent Democrats, and Saturday’s synagogue attack, have placed references to Soros in a darker light.

View the October 29 article by Mike DeBonis on the Washington Post website here.