US House Committee Drama Llama: Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar Kicked Off of Committees

[Oleg]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

 

[Politesse]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

Freedom Fries.

 

[thebeave]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

Diversity, of course.

 

[Bomb#20]

Omar faced increasing backlash after suggesting Republican support of Israel is fueled by donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a prominent pro-Israel group.

On Sunday, Omar responded to a tweet by journalist Glenn Greenwald that reads, “GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib over their criticisms of Israel. It’s stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans.”

Omar replied, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” followed by a musical notes emoji.

We should probably all cut her some slack about this. "I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money." So she shouldn't have been kicked off the committee for being an antisemite. She should have been kicked off for being an idiot.

Omar has been critical of the Israeli government over its treatment of Palestinians and supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a non-violent activist campaign that aims to put economic and political pressure on Israel over its actions toward Palestinians, including calling for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/11/politics/ilhan-omar-aipac-backlash/index.html

That's the best I could find.

So what's her beef? She's allowed to boycott, divest and sanction Israel; the Repubs are allowed to boycott, divest and sanction her. Sauce for the goose...

 

[TomC]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

I don't see Israel as an ally particularly. More like useful for certain political purposes. That's not the same.

Israel is an ally of conservative politicians and the christianists and billionaires who use them.
Not me.
Tom

 

[Bomb#20]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

Freedom Fries.

Yeah, that was stupid. They should have renamed them Aussie Fries. Because (a) Australia had our back when that other ally was in the coalition of the unwilling, and (b) I've been to France, and I've been to Australia, and Australia makes way better fries!

 

[lpetrich]

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives - still not updated with committee assignments. Looking at Congressmember sites and committee sites, they are rather spotty. AOC's site still lists her as in the Oversight and Financial Services Committees, though she is now in the Oversight and Natural Resources Committees instead.

Representatives | house.gov - links to all the member sites.

The Oversight Committee: United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability - and United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability - Ballotpedia

Progressive Squad members on / off this committee:

• 2019-20: AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib / Ilhan Omar
• 2021-22: AOC, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Katie Porter / Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman
• 2023- : AOC, Cori Bush, Katie Porter, (Becca Balint, Greg Casar, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, Summer Lee) / Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, (Delia Ramirez)

() - the newcomers this time around. AP and RT apparently are staying in the Financial Services Committee.

As to FSC drama llama, Katie Porter started off in it in 2019-20, but she wanted to serve in another commmittee in 2021-22. So she had to give it up, and instead served in Oversight and Natural Resources, where AOC is now.

 

[bilby]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Why would you put someone who is openly hostile to a US ally on the Foreign Relations Committee?

Freedom Fries.

Yeah, that was stupid. They should have renamed them Aussie Fries. Because (a) Australia had our back when that other ally was in the coalition of the unwilling, and (b) I've been to France, and I've been to Australia, and Australia makes way better fries!

"Frenched" is a culinary term meaning "cut in such a way as to ensure even cooking". When one frenches vegetables such as potatoes, this usually implies julienning - cutting them into long thin strips.

https://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--35683/frenched.asp

Fried julienne potatoes, aka frenched and fried potatoes, originated in Belgium, and rapidly became hugely popular on both sides of the Channel; The English, being culinary and linguistic philistines, rapidly contracted and corrupted the name of the dish to "french fries".

This name for the dish was exported to the new world, but subsequently disappeared from the English lexicon, where it was ousted by "chips", which had previously meant any thinly sliced and deep fried root vegetable (including what the English now refer to as "crisps").

McDonalds re-imported the phrase "french fries" to England (further contracted to just "fries"), in the 1970s, although it's still struggling against "chips" even amongst McDonalds customers, despite strict rules for staff about only ever referring to them as "fries".

French Fries were never anything to do with France, other than the very tenuous link that historically, English cooks apparently thought that almost anything cooked evenly was probably a strange and slightly suspicious French novelty. In England, "French fries" is (correctly) viewed as being a particularly and definitively American name for fried julienne potatoes.

 

[ZiprHead]

We should probably all cut her some slack about this. "I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money." So she shouldn't have been kicked off the committee for being an antisemite. She should have been kicked off for being an idiot.

So an immigrant from Somalia is supposed to know every American bigotry trope or she's an idiot. Right, got it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Indeed. It's almost as if they have some kind of faith that they can be bad and just use two different lexicons for when they want it to be a freedom (them) and when it is "anti-Semitism", and for them, it's "are they me or someone I like?"
Faith.
Bad Faith.

Because most criticism of Israel is actually politically acceptable anti-semitism. "Israel" is just being used as a proxy for "Jews".

 

[TomC]

Because most criticism of Israel is actually politically acceptable anti-semitism.

I see that as total bullshit.

The behavior of the Israeli government and IDF concerning the West Bank and Gaza would never be tolerated by most Americans concerning Russia in Ukraine.

Oh wait.

Russia and Israel are US allies, by some people's standards. Not mine.
Tom

 

[lpetrich]

Because most criticism of Israel is actually politically acceptable anti-semitism. "Israel" is just being used as a proxy for "Jews".

Evidence-free assertion. It's like saying that because Israel is a Jewish state, then its leaders and citizens are entitled to get away with *anything*, no matter how criminal.

 

[Patooka]

In Republican land, criticizing Israel for any reason is "anti-semitism", while openly supporting Nazism is just "our freedoms".

Indeed. It's almost as if they have some kind of faith that they can be bad and just use two different lexicons for when they want it to be a freedom (them) and when it is "anti-Semitism", and for them, it's "are they me or someone I like?"
Faith.
Bad Faith.

Because most criticism of Israel is actually politically acceptable anti-semitism. "Israel" is just being used as a proxy for "Jews".

How the fuck do you figure that considering most of the criticism towards Israel is not even towards Israel entire but their right wing politicians like Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Naftali Bennett? I haven't seen anyone tell Ehud Olmert to go fuck himself in recent times.

 

[Derec]

Israel is an ally of conservative politicians and the christianists and billionaires who use them.
Not me.
Tom

I take it you prefer Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah?

 

[Derec]

How the fuck do you figure that considering most of the criticism towards Israel is not even towards Israel entire but their right wing politicians like Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Naftali Bennett?

Because they attack and condemn Israel for something they would not condemn any other country for doing.
Like going after terrorists or defending themselves when attacked with rocket fire.
So what's the difference? Israel being the Jewish state of course.

How is this wrong
Israeli troops kill 7 Palestinian gunmen, 2 civilians in Jenin clash, Palestinians say
but this ok?
US says it killed 12 al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia airstrike

I haven't seen anyone tell Ehud Olmert to go fuck himself in recent times.

He hasn't been relevant in recent times.

 

[Derec]

Evidence-free assertion. It's like saying that because Israel is a Jewish state, then its leaders and citizens are entitled to get away with *anything*, no matter how criminal.

Nobody is saying that. But there is a double standard with Israel where it is condemned for doing things any other country would be doing, like defend itself against aggression and terrorist attacks.
When terrorists say they want to destroy you, you should take them seriously and act accordingly. And Israel has the right to do the same.

 

[Derec]

The behavior of the Israeli government and IDF concerning the West Bank and Gaza would never be tolerated by most Americans concerning Russia in Ukraine.

The situations are not at all analogous. Russia is clearly the aggressor in Ukraine. And Gaza is the aggressor when they shoot rockets at Israeli civilians (behavior Russia is also guilty of) and Israel is defending itself by targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad infrastructure in Gaza. Terrorists are also active in Judea and Samaria - esp. in cities like Jenin.

 

[Derec]

So an immigrant from Somalia is supposed to know every American bigotry trope or she's an idiot. Right, got it.

She's been here almost 30 years.

 

[Bomb#20]

We should probably all cut her some slack about this. "I wasn’t aware of the fact that there are tropes about Jews and money." So she shouldn't have been kicked off the committee for being an antisemite. She should have been kicked off for being an idiot.

So an immigrant from Somalia is supposed to know every American bigotry trope or she's an idiot. Right, got it.

She came to America when she was twelve.

 

[Patooka]

How the fuck do you figure that considering most of the criticism towards Israel is not even towards Israel entire but their right wing politicians like Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Naftali Bennett?

Because they attack and condemn Israel for something they would not condemn any other country for doing.
Like going after terrorists or defending themselves when attacked with rocket fire.
So what's the difference? Israel being the Jewish state of course.

How is this wrong
Israeli troops kill 7 Palestinian gunmen, 2 civilians in Jenin clash, Palestinians say
but this ok?
US says it killed 12 al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia airstrike

I haven't seen anyone tell Ehud Olmert to go fuck himself in recent times.

He hasn't been relevant in recent times.

Well that's weird. Everyone I've seen be critical of Israel is because of their Apartheid-like approach towards Palestinians and the casual way they indiscriminately shoot at terrorists and civilians with equal abandon. In fact most of the criticisms go out of their way to compare Israel to Apartheid and make no mention of Judaism. But I guess I'm not a mind reader like you. Maybe Michael Brooks secretly was an anti-semite before he died.