US Politics, October 2019 — I guess statement you could say with thread. I made a thread. The thread was PERFECT.

"Of course Omar only voted present." why 'of course'? She should have voted yes, this was crappy of her.

There are lots of different viewpoints on genocide

Genocide: "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation." That's just a definition.

xpost "Of course" as in I often get the sense she is vying for attention, leaning in to her "controversial" reputation, however tone deaf she sometimes comes across. In this case, her present vote can best be summed up as #allgenocidesmatter.

Omar's office has sent this statement to CNN explaining her present vote: pic.twitter.com/Gpj198jx0p

— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) October 29, 2019

meh. Yeah of course we should recognize all of them. But can start somewhere.

Here's a combination:

Two images for you. First shows nays/present on Armenian genocide vote, second shows nays on sanctioning Turkey over the Kurds. Omar and Mike Pence’s brother show up in both. pic.twitter.com/P9Jdj2A9B1

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) October 29, 2019

That's a terrible, and nagl, whataboutery reason to dodge the vote on this. She's a politician, she works in politics; votes like these are what politics are all about: gratuitous, opportunist etc. But you'd still want to vote on the just side of it, surely...

why would israel be pissed? The US Government recognizes the Holocaust.

long history of objecting to its recognition, primarily to appease Turkey but there's also a strain that wants to monopolize the Holocaust as being the first "real" genocide (which it most definitely was not)

https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-vote-on-recognizing-armenian-genocide-withdrawn/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/24/israels-refusal-to-recognize-the-armenian-genocide-is-shameful-and-immoral-netanyahu-turkey-azerbaijan-yad-vashem-tsitsernakaberd/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eli-wiesel-is-right-on-ge_b_85943?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIchPI1h2O_qO-B6bu05gGkl-f-6J8GONSV1cKpQvw_oYY1Ut3_PKdRRwltYEm1WOXaVaIW7lLfs9AjFwc5MPn2KPTwFitD3CotsEfjnrjZ6eujauzkPlMcFk-0KZeK1g6C2uF8M5GoGuvsh4ssbjeh4JYSUrs_A36H0V8kCB7-B

everyone gets so precious about their genocide.

indeed

Yosef Shagal, an Azerbaijani Jew and now retired Israeli parliamentarian from Israel Our Home stated in an interview to Azerbaijan media (which officially denies the genocide): "I find it deeply offensive, and even blasphemous to compare the Holocaust of European Jewry during the Second World War with the mass extermination of the Armenian people during the First World War. Jews were killed because they were Jews, but Armenians provoked Turkey and should blame themselves."

ugh...I am rooting for Omar but I've definitely heard some sideways talk from ppl in the activist comm. about her being not cool and not necessarily the person presented

guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIchPI1h2O_qO-B6bu05gGkl-f-6J8GONSV1cKpQvw_oYY1Ut3_PKdRRwltYEm1WOXaVaIW7lLfs9AjFwc5MPn2KPTwFitD3CotsEfjnrjZ6eujauzkPlMcFk-0KZeK1g6C2uF8M5GoGuvsh4ssbjeh4JYSUrs_A36H0V8kCB7-B

nope

I specifically object to "PKdRRwltYE"

Democrats also plan to lay out due process rights for Mr. Trump and his lawyers once the process moves to the Judiciary panel. Those will also closely resemble the rules for the impeachment proceedings against Mr. Clinton, as well as Richard M. Nixon. They would allow lawyers for Mr. Trump to request additional testimony or evidence, attend all Judiciary Committee hearings, object to testimony given and cross-examine witnesses called by the committee.

The measure is designed to pave the way for more compelling and substantive hearings than the typical, often tedious sessions that are the norm in congressional committees, in which each lawmaker has a brief turn to question witnesses, and often uses the time to speechify or try to create a viral moment. Instead, under the proposed rules, the Intelligence Committee could convene public hearings in which the top Democrat and Republican — as well as staff aides — can question witnesses for extended, equal blocks of time, up to 45 minutes per side.

very thankful for this reduction in the excruciating pain that is going to be this process

please sir, i want some more

I for one love sic's relentless, undying crusade against gclid and fbclid parameters.

On topic: Omar's "well, in my defense" statement isn't just bad, it's completely indefensible.

yeah i mean isn't she in a way....using accountability and recognition of genocide as a cudgel in a political fight.

I haven't read every post in the last hour, but that Omar "present" vote is....unexpected.

yeah the 45-minutes-a-side questioning seems great, noth in terms of actual investigation and Josh's TV optics.


I specifically object to "PKdRRwltYE"

stands for "Philip K. Dick Rrolling" in his grave iirc

it's lame and it's only going to lead to people launching Islamophobic shit against her since it looks like she doesn't want to upset a Muslim country. She's her own worst enemy half the time.

I haven't read every post in the last hour, but that Omar "present" vote is....unexpected.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, October 30, 2019 12:52 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's terrible, and her statement about it makes it even more terrible.... It's grim.

Omar was elected with 78% of the vote. Don't hold your breath waiting for her to get bounced out of office.

Meanwhile, in "hilarious failure incoming" news, George Papadopoulos has filed to run for Katie Hill's seat.

I Just wish Omar would stop saying dumb fucking shit. She’s hard to defend sometimes

Looks like Omar is trying to defend herself, but even her supporters are (respectfully) not really buying it.

My issue was with the timing and context. I think we should demand accountability for human rights abuses consistently, not simply when it suits our political goals.

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 29, 2019

still seems mostly like bad political nous more than actual bad politics but I wouldn't be surprised if she takes a turn

Accountability for human rights abuses includes political goals. This isn't a binary.

There's a fine line between thoughtful and over-thinking. Esp on the Left when being thoughtful (ie considerate, respectful) is a defining trait. Omar overthought this fer sure.

very well put, Alfred.

thank you

I suppose that Omar could as easily have voted 'yes' and issued the same statement regarding her position, but if she had voted 'yes' rather than 'present', would anyone have reported or read her statement? So from that perspective, her controversial 'present' vote was valuable in ways that yet another 'yes' would not have been.

However, some forms of courting attention through controversy are less strategically valuable than others. Her appearing to deliberately slight a group's recognition for the genocide it suffered could be considered as more hazardous than helpful to propagating her position. She took that chance. It may backfire on her.

I still feel like a lot of the ire at Omar misses the point of having a big tent.

Omar hasn't "positioned" herself as a big tent but as one of the stakes.

seems like a backfire to me

either way the depressing thing is that this will not get much play either way because the populace at large frankly does not know about, nor care, about this genocide. CNN isn't even running anything on this resolution.

My Trump loving uncle though was eager to post about Omar's vote (ignoring the 11 republicans who voted No).

lmao

Sondland and his partner in Provenance Hotels, which owns and operates several hotels in liberal Portland, signed on to host a Trump fundraiser in Seattle, but when that was reported in Portland, they expressed surprise that they were listed as co-sponsors and disavowed Trump (and said they wanted nothing to do with him). Sondland later turned around thereafter and donated $1M to the Inauguration Committee.

On top of everything else, Sondland and his wife are of course devotees of Ayn Rand and own a building downtown they have named The Galt. The Galt houses the offices of his wife’s real estate development company, Atlas Properties. I am sure you appreciate the references.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/sondland-mania-grows

oh goodness what would we do without such titans

*shrugs* fuck him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj95VQUjXxY

disappointed that wasn't a new ray stevens tune

Source familiar with Vindman’s closed doors deposition says he has testified that he took notes during the July 25th phone call, and made two or so recommended edits to the summarized call transcript that weren’t used in the end (ie using company in place of Burisma)
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 29, 2019

As I suspected, what Vindman testified was that the WH used "company" when "Burisma" was actually said, and when he recommended correcting that his suggestion wasn't taken.

That makes a lot more sense, thank you.

Although, in a weird way his testimony was even more compelling when he appeared to be admitting to being a stooge at the same time

On a visit to Portland a couple of years ago we ended up staying at a different hotel just because while we love the Ace there, you know, variety. After the fact we discovered we'd been at a Sondland hotel, and I'm happy to say the Ace all the way now...

good morning!

We're gonna see more stunts like last week's pizza rush.

Don't be surprised if the GOP tries to shut down the government and blame Dems.

Godspeed, Improv Everywhere GOP

the WH used "company" when "Burisma" was actually said

This seems like it could be key. I heard a Republican flak on NPR this morning whose spin was that Trump's phone call was about lots of different corruption, not just Burisma.

but according to the White House's own damn transript, Trump mentioned Biden and his son by name multiple times!

Yeah, and it was perfect!