On the heels of the Republican majority capitulating to the extreme MAGA wing in order to elect a speaker, the House enacted a resolution 420-10, with six members voting “present,” all Democrat, five of whom had co-sponsored the resolution. Here’s the breakdown of representatives who did not vote for the resolution.
Nay votes (10)
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)Present votes (6):
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX)
Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)
The resolution in issue was to condemn Hamas for its terrorism, to demand the return of Israeli hostages and to affirm and support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism.
“It condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities of Hamas and reiterates Israel’s right to defend herself along with America’s unwavering support for the state of Israel,” Mr. McCaul said on the House floor, arguing the resolution “will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account.”
One would have thought that the condemnation of terrorism would be one of the few uncontroversial questions posed to the House of Representatives. One would be wrong. Other than Massie, the lone Republican who explained his vote as being against financial and military support to Israel, there is one common thread among the “nays” and the “presents.” They are the Squad, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party which has broken from the majority of their party and, perhaps, its president.
For all the insanity of Trump, the Hamas terrorist attack may have precipitated the downfall of President Biden and given Trump a boost that he could never have gotten on his own.
There are two pivotal events that seem to have ignited the new era of solidarity between some young American activists and the people of Palestine. The first came in the form of Palestinian activists expressing support on social media for the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo., which activists describe as an uprising, not just a series of protests. Palestinians provided not just moral support, but offered practical tips that, as activist Cherrell Brown told me, included advice for protesters about how to protect themselves from tear gas.
The second event was a 2015 pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian territories organized by Ahmad Abuznaid, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian American who co-founded the Dream Defenders, a group of activists who came together in response to the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.
The small delegation included some people who would also become central in the American movement, like the journalist and scholar Marc Lamont Hill.
In the scheme of history, Jews have provided foundational support for black people. Freedom riders? NAACP? But that was then, and Charles Blow is talking about now, where Palestinian activists enmeshed their cause with Black Lives Matter when few were watching, such that now the two are so deeply embedded as to be inseparable.
College campuses are erupting with protests, some being characterized as pro-Palestinian while others are pro-Hamas. Tearing down posters of kidnapped Israel children has become a symbol of “resistance,” as if the kidnapped children are responsible for anything. By wrapping themselves in the Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh, silly children pretend they aren’t being anti-Semetic, but merely pro-Palestinian, without grasping that their inability to condemn terrorism against Jews supports terrorism against jews.
And indeed, a great many college campuses, including Brandeis, where a student resolution to condemn Hamas failed. Or George Washington University, where students projected “Glory to our Martyrs” onto the wall of the Gelman Library. Something happened at Cooper Union yesterday, where Jewish students were holed up in the library while pro-Hamas protesters pounded on the door. Or not. the characterizations being suspect all around due to reporters’ sympathies and “moral clarity.”
But the vote of the ten members of the House of Representatives on a resolution five of them co-sponsored before they learned that their activist constituents were for the terrorists is not in doubt. They voted, and they voted not to condemn terrorism. They voted, and they voted against supporting the target of terrorists. They voted against Jews and for terrorists, as the pretense that some fantasy land exists where they can excuse rape and murder of women, babies and the elderly because of their twisted grasp of recent Palestinian history.
The woke left, including Jews who cling so desperately to their tribal affiliations, has gone full Jew hating. And the Squad is their voice in Congress. For those who fancied themselves progressives but can’t bring themselves to wish glory to the martyrs, or aren’t prepared to be raped and murdered for the cause themselves, they are about to find out that there is no home on the left edge of progressivism for heresy.
When Black Lives Matter mostly peaceful protests were at their apex, apologists made nonsensical excuses for burning and looting, “reparations” and “the voice of the unheard.” The same is being done for raping and murdering, beheading and burning, even though the acts are far more barbaric than pedestrian looting.
In 1765, Voltaire said “Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde, est en droit de vous rendre injuste.” This has been commonly translated as “Certainly anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit atrocities.” Indeed.
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Summer Lee is mine. This makes me sad, though I am not surprised. As last time, she will not get my vote.
This whole situation confuses me. I just don’t get how anyone can support the actions Hamas took and has taken (whether you support the Palestinians or not).
.
There’s an irony, or symbolism, or whatever other word you want to use, for the fact that Summer Lee beat out Steve Irwin in the primary for her Congressional seat; Steve Irwin had been a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, which also suffered a hateful and murderous terrorist attack on Jews. He knew some of the victims. No doubt that he would have joined the resolution when Summer won’t. But he was less progressive, and less diverse. Priorities?
Who exactly is the woke left? And I’ve yet to understand what woke is. It’s one of those political terms that in of itself means nothing, but can mean whatever one wants it to mean. One could say Make America Great Again is the same.
It’s so weird that everybody knows who the woke left is except the woke left. Must be that higher education.
Woke (n) – 1. The state of believing that rights are vested in groups, not individuals; that all evils in the world are due to white, male capitalists and that the descendants of these people are also collectively guilty of whatever the current point of outrage is; that the minority group of the moment is better than all other groups and that anyone who doesn’t agree is a non-person who must be ostracized from society; that failure to achieve equal outcomes is due to discrimination and not lack of ability or effort on the part of individuals who fail to achieve; that only the mob can determine what is acceptable behavior now, in the past and in the future, and that such definitions are effective retroactively with punishments to be applied as the mob sees fit.
2. A contagious mental illness.
post by Gus on Simple Justice 3/16/23
Great definition…glad you made it up
Anonymous Coward didn’t “make that up.” It was written on March 16, 2023 by a commenter named Gus. He saved it. I am sorry this isn’t self-evident to you.
You obviously didn’t pay attention to Trump’s response to the atrocities.
Excellent focus, figuring out this was really all about Trump.
Wow, I can’t believe Trump really said that. Oh wait, Jay didn’t actually contribute anything substantive, yet again. Just empty noise. Yet again.
I’m woke, very briefly, every morning.
Thereafter, I aim to be awake and aware.
Fuck a bunch of wokeness.
Based on what is posted at their Instagram page, the Brandeis Student Union condemned Hamas.
[Ed. Note: Link (which Chris was kind enough to send me) added because my rules are unfair.]