Tag: hypocrisy

The Squad Enables Pelosi’s Massive Capitol Police Spending Bill While Cynically Feigning Opposition

By a margin of one vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that allocates $1.9 billion to intensify security and increase policing at the U.S. Capitol. Among other things, the bill would boost armed security for members of Congress, fortify security protections at the Capitol, provide funds in “reimbursement” to the National Guard, and increase funding for the Capitol Police. A small portion of it would provide counseling services to Capitol Police officers dealing with trauma.

The 213-212 vote was a party line vote with six exceptions. All Republicans voted against it. All Democrats voted for the bill except for six. Three members of the left-wing faction of the House known as the “Squad” joined their GOP colleagues to vote against the bill: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). But the other three members of the Squad — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — voted neither “yes” nor “no” but rather “present.” All six had previously told activist groups that they opposed the bill.

Had any of these three Squad members voted “no” instead of “present,” then the bill would have been defeated. In other words, this faction of the Squad had the power fully in their hands to block passage of a bill that would increase police funding and enhance the power of the security state to prevent the public from entering the U.S. Capitol: a bill they claimed to oppose. But they chose not to use that power and instead allowed this pro-police, pro-security-state bill to pass the House. It now heads to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has vowed to bring it to a floor vote, though it remains uncertain if they will be able to find ten Republican Senators needed for it to pass the Senate and be sent to the White House for signing.

There are several amazing aspects to this episode. To begin with, all three Squad members who abstained today on this bill — which effectively ensured its passage — have spent the last year chanting and tweeting that the police should be defunded. Just last month, Rep. Tlaib demanded that the police be defunded and disbanded…

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Kamala Harris keeps assets in tax-advantaged trust, appearing to violate own ethics pledge

Vice President Kamala Harris keeps assets in a tax-advantaged family trust, a move that appears to violate an ethics pledge she and President Biden made on the campaign trail.

According to Harris’ financial disclosure form released Monday, she has been a trustee of the KDH/DCE family trust since 2017. The trust’s assets “are not reportable,” according to the filing, effectively obscuring some of the vice president’s holdings from public view.

The trust is inconsistent with Biden and Harris’ campaign plan to crack down on such vehicles once in office. Biden and Harris pledged to work with Congress to “eliminate the trust loophole in existing financial disclosure law,” and Biden said he would “require that any member of his Administration who is a beneficiary of a discretionary trust disclose all of its holdings.”

It is unclear why Harris does not have to adhere to the pledge and report the assets held in the trust. The vice president’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

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BLM Founder Who Went on Property Buying Spree Complains About “White Supremacy” in the Housing Market

After going on a personal home buying spree, including one property located in one of the whitest areas of California, BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors is now complaining about “white supremacy” in the housing market.

Cullors recently spent a total of $3.2 million on four homes, including a $1.4 million property in L.A.’s rustic and semi-remote Topanga Canyon, which has a black population of just 1.6 per cent.

Another of the homes, a “custom ranch” located in Georgia, is surrounded by “3.2 rural acres” and features a “private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it” in addition to an indoor swimming pool.

Over the weekend, Cullors highlighted a story by NPR on the low rate of black home ownership in areas like Compton, which is 33% black.

“Thank you @npr for highlighting the history of racism inside of the housing market and why Black homeownership has always been a way to disrupt white supremacy,” wrote Cullors.

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Far-Left Connecticut Democrat Flip-Flops on Accepting Corporate PAC $$

Far-left Democrat Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) received over $100 thousand in corporate PAC money after previously objecting to anyone receiving campaign contributions from corporate PACs, according to reports.

In 2018, during the Democrat’s first congressional run, as a candidate, Hayes committed to not accepting any money from corporate PACs for her campaign, according to the reports. She was part of a class of lawmakers who wanted to “clean up the influence of money in politics.”

She said, during a Democrat debate in 2018 while running for her current seat, “I would not take corporate PAC money,”  later adding, “I would not take money from firearms manufacturers or … what was the other one you said? … Private prison corporations? No.”

Hayes has also said in the past “all PACs are not created equal. …When I go to Congress, I will fight and make sure campaign finance reform is a priority.”

Now the flip-flopper, after being in Congress for two terms, has reportedly “accepted $102,000 for her campaigns from PACs run by many of the nation’s largest corporations, Federal Election Commission filings show.”

In the first three months of the 2021 cycle, the Register Citizen reported, “Hayes collected $9,500 from PACs operated by the likes of Walmart, Comcast, T-Mobile and General Dynamics.”

Barbara Ellis, the incumbent’s campaign manager, said, “the congresswoman accepts corporate PAC money,” then later adding, “her position evolved from the time she was a new candidate.”

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