I Re-Editted Yesterday's Politico Hit Piece On Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez So It Makes More Sense

For politics junkies, yesterday started with a pre-dawn Rachael Bade/Heather Caygle click magnetic piece at Politico, Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez. One of my former jobs was editor of Alternative Rock, one of America's first punk zines. I was also the west coast editor of Country Music Magazine at one point. So I decided to re-edit the Politico piece for them-- really for my own amusement... but, hey; it's Saturday! Let me begin, though, with a couple of questions and a comment Ro Khanna gave me: "What happened to the classical liberals-- those who believe in JS Mill? Shouldn’t we in Congress welcome a diversity of viewpoints and dissent? The more ideas we have to debate, even including outliers, will help refine the thinking of the body and force us to examine conventional assumptions. I am grateful that we have folks like an Ocasio, Amash, or Massie willing to speak their mind, even when I disagree with them." Former Florida Congressman Alan Grayson (like Ocasio-Cortez, born in the Bronx)-- another progressive with a mind too independent for status quo corporate Dems-- told me yesterday after reading the Politico piece that "The critics are just jealous of her popularity and success. As she said, 'don’t hate me because you ain’t me.'"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already making enemies in the House Democratic Caucus-- and some of its members are mounting an operation to bring the anti-establishment, democratic socialist with 2.2 million Twitter followers into the fold.

Petrified servants of the status quo within the House Democratic Caucus are continuing their desperate efforts to force Congress' most popular member-- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-- to OBEY! Beltway status quo publications like our own will continue to back the effort.

The effort, described by nearly 20 lawmakers and aides, is part carrot, part stick: Some lawmakers with ties to Ocasio-Cortez are hoping to coax her into using her star power to unite Democrats and turn her fire on Republicans. Others simultaneously warn Ocasio-Cortez is destined for a lonely, ineffectual career in Congress if she continues to treat her own party as the enemy.

Gossip we picked up indicates that Democratic members who are jealous that she dances better than they do or who don't understand what she's accomplishing by working at a grassroots level in transforming the meaning of a turgid, defensive Pelosi-Hoyer party into something that has moved past the 1980s, indicates that they are trying every trick in the book to just get her to sell out and buy into the hive mind that dominates Capitol Hill-- or else!

“I’m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there’s almost an outstanding rule: Don’t attack your own people,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). “We just don’t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.”

“I’m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there’s almost an outstanding rule: Don’t attack your own people,” said 74 year old, tired Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), a corporate Democratic sell-out with a shameful "C" ranking from ProgressivePunch in a deep blue (D+7) Kansas City, Missouri district. It's worth noting that Rep. Cleaver, once something of a fiery progressive himself (long ago), joined the House Financial Services Committee and has taken $1,810,524 from the Financial Sector while helping to oversee the industries that underwrite his comfy career. Oddly, this isn't illegal and he isn't in prison, although that could change if Ocasio-Cortez has anything to say about it. “We just don’t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.”

Incumbent Democrats are most annoyed by Ocasio-Cortez’s threat to back primary opponents against members of their ranks she deems too moderate. But their frustration goes beyond that: Democratic leaders are upset that she railed against their new set of House rules on Twitter the first week of the new Congress. Rank and file are peeved that there’s a grassroots movement to try to win her a top committee post they feel she doesn’t deserve.

Corrupt, conservative incumbent Democrats are most annoyed by Ocasio-Cortez’s threat to back primary opponents against members of their ranks she deems too corrupt and too conservative. But their frustration goes beyond that: Democratic leaders are upset that she railed against Pelosi's entirely anti-progressive PAY-GO scam on Twitter the first week of the new Congress. Corrupt, conservative incumbent Democrat and jealous seat-warmers are peeved that there’s a grassroots movement to try to win her a top committee post they feel she doesn’t deserve and won't bother using to extort bribes for the party.

Even some progressives who admire AOC, as she’s nicknamed, told POLITICO that they worry she’s not using her notoriety effectively.

Even some progressives who admire AOC, as she’s nicknamed, told Politico that they worry she’s not using her notoriety they way they want her to.

“She needs to decide: Does she want to be an effective legislator or just continue being a Twitter star?” said one House Democrat who’s in lockstep with Ocasio Cortez’s ideology. “There’s a difference between being an activist and a lawmaker in Congress.”

“She needs to decide: Does she want to be an effective legislator or just continue being a Twitter star?” said one House Democrat who claims to be in lockstep with Ocasio Cortez’s ideology but we won't tell you who it is so you can't ever check whether the two are in lockstep or not. “There’s a difference between being an activist and a lawmaker in Congress.”

It’s an open question whether Ocasio-Cortez can be checked. She’s barely been in Congress a week and is better known than almost any other House member other than Nancy Pelosi and John Lewis. A media throng follows her every move, and she can command a national audience practically at will.

None of that came playing by the usual rules: Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez’s willingness to take on her party establishment with unconventional guerrilla tactics is what got her here. It’s earned her icon status on the progressive left, it’s where the 29-year-old freshman derives her power-- and, by every indication, it’s how she thinks she can pull the Democratic Party in her direction.

The Freedom Caucus didn’t win many popularity contests in Congress the past four years, but it’s hard to dispute the hard-liners’ success dragging the GOP to the right.

It’s an open question whether Ocasio-Cortez can be checked. She’s barely been in Congress a week and is better known than almost any other House member other than Nancy Pelosi and John Lewis. A media throng follows her every move, and she can command a national audience practically at will.

None of that came playing by the usual rules: Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez’s willingness to take on her party establishment with unconventional guerrilla tactics is what got her here. It’s earned her icon status on the progressive left, it’s where the 29-year-old freshman derives her power-- and, by every indication, it’s how she thinks she can pull the Democratic Party in her direction.

The Freedom Caucus didn’t win many popularity contests in Congress the past four years, but it’s hard to dispute the hard-liners’ success dragging the GOP to the right.

Still, fellow Democrats are giving it their best, or planning to in the near future.

So far, most of them have kept their criticism of Ocasio-Cortez private, fearful she’ll sic her massive following on them by firing off a tweet. But a few are engaging with her in the hopes she’ll opt for a different M.O., especially when it comes to trying to take out Democrats in primaries.

Still, some fellow Democrats won't give up in trying to mold her in their own images.

So far, most of them have kept their criticism of Ocasio-Cortez semi-private, fearful that their own shaky bases will turn on them if they show themselves as cowardly sell-outs and tepid agents of the status quo. But a few are engaging with her in the hopes she’ll opt for a different M.O., especially when it comes to trying to take out Democrats in primaries.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) is playing a key role. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez knocked off a longtime Democratic incumbent to win her seat, and they share Puerto Rican roots.

In private conversations with Ocasio-Cortez over the past few months, Velázquez counseled Ocasio-Cortez against targeting her Democratic colleagues in future elections. The two had a “long, long conversation” about the dynamics of Congress and Washington, and how there shouldn’t be a “litmus test” for every district, Velázquez said in a recent interview.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) is playing a key role. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Velázquez knocked off a longtime Democratic incumbent to win her seat, and they share Puerto Rican roots. Before going further, though, we want to share a few lines from Rep. Velázquez's wikipedia page that bring up the criticism she has had "for her close ties to the banking industry and her reluctance to support reform and transparency measures. A majority of her campaign contributions have come from banks, including Goldman Sachs and the American Bankers Association. Opponents have suggested that these contributions influenced her votes in support of the bailouts and her votes against reform and transparency measures. In addition to support for private banks, Ms. Velazquez voted against bipartisan House efforts to audit the federal reserve, both in 2009 and in 2012." Velázquez, another member of the House Financial Services Committee, has scooped up $2,380,936 from the sector.

In private conversations with Ocasio-Cortez over the past few months, Velázquez counseled Ocasio-Cortez against targeting her Democratic colleagues in future elections. The two had a “long, long conversation” about the dynamics of Congress and Washington, and how there shouldn’t be a “litmus test” for every district, Velázquez said in a recent interview.

After she defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in shocking fashion last year, Ocasio-Cortez supported primary challengers to Democratic Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, William Lacy Clay of Missouri and Mike Capuano of Massachusetts.

Only Capuano lost. But Velázquez told Ocasio-Cortez she should think twice in the future before backing primaries against her colleagues. Murphy, the first Vietnamese woman elected to Congress, represents a swing district and could lose her seat if she’s forced to move left in a primary, Velázquez said during the talk.

“Washington is a political animal where a lot of the work that you want to accomplish depends on relationships within the Democratic Caucus,” said Velázquez, who described herself as a “bridge” between Ocasio-Cortez and the caucus. “The honeymoon between the voters that you represent and yourself could be a short one. People want to see results.”

After she defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in shocking fashion last year, infuriating and striking fear into the hearts of every corrupt status quo Democrat in the House (including to some who had attached their personal stars to Crowley's coattails), Ocasio-Cortez supported primary challengers to Democratic Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, an especially vile reactionary who is supported by family money and is now chair of the Blue Dogs, William Lacy Clay of Missouri (which helps explain the tantrum from Cleaver above) and Mike Capuano of Massachusetts.

Only Capuano lost and Ocasio-Cortez had very little role in that, although the Ayassa Pressley campaign was partially modeled on her campaign against Crowley. But Velázquez told Ocasio-Cortez she should think twice in the future before backing primaries against her colleagues. Murphy, the first Vietnamese woman elected to Congress, represents a swing district and could lose her seat if she’s forced to move left in a primary, Velázquez said during the talk. Velázquez, of course, didn't mention that the Democratic Party would be better off without Murphy, who has blurred the distinction between what Republicans and Democrats stand for, and is busy ruining the Democratic Party brand.

“Washington is a political animal where a lot of the work that you want to accomplish depends on relationships within the Democratic Caucus,” said Velázquez, who described herself as a “bridge” between Ocasio-Cortez and the caucus. “The honeymoon between the voters that you represent and yourself could be a short one. People want to see results.” It could be a short one, especially if Ocasio-Cortez sells out the way Velázquez has and is trying to drag her into the same posture.

Other lawmakers agreed.

“I think she needs to give herself an opportunity to know her colleagues and to give herself a sense of the chemistry of the body before passing judgment on anyone or anything,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, a fellow New York Democrat.

“She’s new here, feeling her way around,” added Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.). “She doesn’t understand how the place works yet.”

Needless to say other corrupt status quo incumbents agreed.

“I think she needs to give herself an opportunity to know her colleagues and to give herself a sense of the chemistry of the body before passing judgment on anyone or anything,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, a fellow New York Democrat, who almost lost a primary from the left herself last year.

“She’s new here, feeling her way around,” added Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), one of the most rot-gut Blue Dog pigs in Congress. “She doesn’t understand how the place works yet.”

Ocasio-Cortez, through her staff, declined to be interviewed for this story. But there are signs that she’s getting the message, at least when it comes to backing primary challenges against her colleagues.

Ocasio-Cortez, through her staff, declined to be interviewed for this story. But there are signs that she’s getting the message, at least when it comes to backing primary challenges against her colleagues. UPDATE: That was some twitter thread her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, unleashed this morning.

In a brief exchange off the House floor recently, she said she wasn’t interested in backing progressive candidates against incumbent Democrats — contradicting her own words after the midterms. She also criticized POLITICO for publishing a story suggesting she considered backing a primary opponent against rising star Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who many believe could become the first black speaker.

“I’m focused on my job,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Her spokesman, Corbin Trent, added: “There has been a change in focus — though not a change in ideology.”

In a brief exchange off the House floor recently, she said she wasn’t interested in backing progressive candidates against incumbent Democrats-- contradicting her own words after the midterms. She also criticized Politico for publishing a story suggesting she considered backing a primary opponent against establishment political hack Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who establishment stenographers like Politico always refresh's to as a "rising star" and always claim "could become the first black speaker." We're so silly, it's embarrassing.

“I’m focused on my job,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Her spokesman, Corbin Trent, added: “There has been a change in focus-- though not a change in ideology.”

Some House Democrats aren’t convinced. They’ve noticed that Ocasio-Cortez has hired two former organizers from the anti-establishment group Justice Democrats to run her office. One of them, her new chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, told supporters during a November conference call that “we gotta primary folks.”

Ocasio-Cortez appeared to agree with him during the call, arguing that “all Americans know money in politics is a huge problem, but unfortunately the way that we fix it is by demanding that our incumbents give it up or by running fierce campaigns ourselves.”

“Long story short, I need you to run for office,” she told progressive activists on the call. “That's really what we need to do to save this country.”

Comments like that got Ocasio-Cortez off on the wrong foot with her colleagues, to say the least.

Some House Democrats are scared shitless. They’ve noticed that Ocasio-Cortez has hired two former organizers from the anti-establishment group Justice Democrats to run her office. One of them, her new chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, told supporters during a November conference call that “we gotta primary folks.”

Ocasio-Cortez appeared to agree with him during the call, arguing that “all Americans know money in politics is a huge problem, but unfortunately the way that we fix it is by demanding that our incumbents give it up or by running fierce campaigns ourselves.”

“Long story short, I need you to run for office,” she told progressive activists on the call. “That's really what we need to do to save this country.”

Comments like that got Ocasio-Cortez off on the wrong foot with all the corrupt conservatives in the House, especially from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party who are on the warpath now.

“It’s not unreasonable for people to wonder” whether she will come after them, said Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.). “I’m choosing not to focus on if she’s going to run someone against someone … but by seeing how we can more effectively work with her and bring her ideas to the table.”

“It’s not unreasonable for people to wonder” whether she will come after them, said Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), a protege and ally of Joe Crowley's. “I’m choosing not to focus on if she’s going to run someone against someone … but by seeing how we can more effectively work with her and bring her ideas to the table.”

Ocasio-Cortez is an enigma to most House Democrats. She’s very friendly in person, chatting up fellow lawmakers and security workers in the Capitol as she’s tailed by admirers and reporters.

Then they see the Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, where she frequently snaps at critics and occasionally at fellow Democrats. When House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that a new climate committee that Ocasio-Cortez championed would not have subpoena power, she retweeted the news and chastised Democratic leadership.

“Our goal is to treat Climate Change like the serious, existential threat it is by drafting an ambitious solution on the scale necessary — aka a Green New Deal — to get it done,” she said. “A weak committee misses the point & endangers people.”

Ocasio-Cortez is an enigma to most House Democrats. She’s very friendly in person, chatting up fellow lawmakers and security workers in the Capitol as she’s tailed by admirers and reporters.

Then they see the Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, where she frequently effectively defends herself critics including corrupt conservative Democrats. When House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters that he was able to neuter a new climate committee that Ocasio-Cortez championed on behalf of his corporate donors-- he has taken direct payments amounting to $404,970 from Big Oil and Gas-- by making sure it would not have subpoena power, she retweeted the news and chastised Democratic leadership.

“Our goal is to treat Climate Change like the serious, existential threat it is by drafting an ambitious solution on the scale necessary-- aka a Green New Deal-- to get it done,” she said. “A weak committee misses the point & endangers people.” Straight talk like this is what has made her so popular with the Democratic base and so unpopular with corrupt conservatives like Hoyer.

Two House Democratic sources compared her use of Twitter to Donald Trump’s. Just as congressional Republicans constantly withhold criticism of the president out of fear he’ll unleash a tweet at them, some Democrats have done the same with Ocasio-Cortez.

“People are afraid of her,” said one senior Democratic aide.

Two House Democratic sources compared her use of Twitter to Donald Trump’s. Just as congressional Republicans constantly withhold criticism of the president out of fear he’ll unleash a tweet at them, some Democrats have done the same with Ocasio-Cortez, although she has never once released an angry Trump-like tweet directed at any Democrats, including the ones who know in their hearts what scumbags they are and how much they deserve to be flushed down history's toilet.

“People are afraid of her,” said one senior Democratic aide. There are plenty of members who have very guilty consciences and are petrified their own constituents will find out what hypocrites they are.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) predicted that Ocasio-Cortez will soon learn that Republicans are “the real enemy.”

“She will come to the understanding that it’s a better use of her time fighting the Republican Party than her Democratic colleagues who agree with her on green energy,” said Maloney, who called Ocasio-Cortez “very nice” and “very charming.”

One of the more corrupt Democrats, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who is chair of the Financial Service Committee's powerful subcommittee on Capital Markets has taken a jaw-dropping $6,327,421 from the banisters but predicted that Ocasio-Cortez will soon learn that Republicans are “the real enemy.”

“She will come to the understanding that it’s a better use of her time fighting the Republican Party than her Democratic colleagues who agree with her on green energy,” said Maloney, who called Ocasio-Cortez “very nice” and “very charming.”

Others aren’t so sure. They point to her first week in Congress: Ocasio-Cortez aggravated Democratic leaders and even some fellow progressives when she tweeted that she’d oppose the Democratic rules package, arguing it would stymie liberal priorities like “Medicare for all.”

Others aren’t so sure. They point to her first week in Congress: Ocasio-Cortez aggravated Democratic leaders and even some fellow progressives when she tweeted-- accurately and much to their embarrassment-- that she’d oppose the Democratic rules package, arguing it would stymie liberal priorities like “Medicare for all.”

House Democrats were also unhappy when she made a play for a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Lawmakers suspected Ocasio-Cortez was behind a massive online campaign pressing Pelosi to appoint her to the panel, though her office said she was not.

Critics inside the caucus felt she didn't deserve it, given her lack of professional experience on tax issues and her status as a freshman.

“It totally pissed off everyone,” said one senior House Democratic lawmaker of the campaign. “You don’t get picked for committees by who your grass-roots [supporters] are.”

The House's corrupt conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party were also unhappy when asked which committee she would like to serve on, she asked for the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which conservatives from both parties use as a base for corrupt fundraising but which she would like to reform. Lawmakers suspected-- wrongly-- Ocasio-Cortez was behind a massive online campaign pressing Pelosi to appoint her to the panel, though her office said she was not.

The vile creatures from the Blue Dogs and New Dems, plus others jealous of her popularity and ability to dance developed a narrative that she didn't deserve it, given her lack of professional experience on tax issues and her status as a freshman.

“It totally pissed off everyone,” said one senior House Democratic lawmaker (who we can't name because he's a cowardly worm) of the campaign. “You don’t get picked for committees by who your grass-roots [supporters] are.”

But the issue of pushing primaries against Democratic incumbents such as Jeffries, who was recently elected chairman of the Democratic Caucus, is what’s agitated rank-and-file members the most.

“The chances that the Democratic caucus will stand by and watch its chair get attack and people piling on him — by Democrats! — is so obscene that I think you’ll find one of the strongest reactions that could possibly be anticipated,” Cleaver said.

But the issue of pushing primaries against Democratic incumbents such as Jeffries, who was recently elected chairman of the Democratic Caucus, is what’s agitated rank-and-file members the most.

“The chances that the Democratic caucus will stand by and watch its chair get attacked and people piling on him-- by Democrats!-- is so obscene that I think you’ll find one of the strongest reactions that could possibly be anticipated,” Cleaver said, who, as we explained above, knows where his bread is buttered.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said he’s taking Ocasio-Cortez at her word that “she wants to work with everybody,” as he said she told him. Meeks and other members of the New York delegation intend to nominate Ocasio-Cortez to serve on the Financial Services Committee, an exclusive panel, early next week.

“It’s one thing” for outside activists to go after Democratic incumbents, Meeks said. “It’s another thing when you’re in this institution and you’ve got to work to get things done.”

And speaking of corruption and of Democrats who desperately need to be primaried, Rep. Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY) said he’s taking Ocasio-Cortez at her word that “she wants to work with everybody,” as he said she told him. Meeks and other members of the New York delegation intend to nominate Ocasio-Cortez to serve on the Financial Services Committee, an exclusive panel, early next week. Meeks, a notorious vote seller, serves on the Financial Services Committee and has taken a cool $3,661,288 from the banksters he's supposed to be overseeing.

“It’s one thing” for outside activists to go after Democratic incumbents, Meeks said. “It’s another thing when you’re in this institution and you’ve got to work to get things done,” he said, shaking with fear and anxiety.

But Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the former head of the House Progressive Caucus, said Democrats should probably get used to Ocasio-Cortez.

She’s “going to force some of the members to have to align with or against her,” he said. “In that sense, I would assume that can be irritating to some.”

“Maybe it’s the aunt or uncle you didn’t want to invite to the wedding,” Grijalva added, but Ocasio-Cortez “is part of the family.”

But Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), the former head of the House Progressive Caucus, said Democrats should probably get used to Ocasio-Cortez.

She’s “going to force some of the members to have to align with or against her,” he said. “In that sense, I would assume that can be irritating to some.”

“Maybe it’s the aunt or uncle you didn’t want to invite to the wedding,” Grijalva added, but Ocasio-Cortez “is part of the family.”

No edit needed on those last three paragraphs other than the proper way to identify Grijalva's state. I asked some of the progressives who will be running in 2020 what they thought of the Politico story. Nate McMurray, another independent-minded progressive the DCCC refused to help but who came within 0.3% of winning in an R+11 district and admires Ocasio-Cortez. sent ne a quote from the great Polish poet and diplomat, Czesław Miłosz: "In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot." Nate said that "Teamwork is important. But standing up for what you believe-- despite the pushback-- matters more. She has demonstrated that she is the opposite of a sellout. And I hope she stays strong, because so many people are watching, looking up to, and cheering for her, including me. By the way, I bet she just got 10k more followers... There is a pattern that has been used to silence women politicians, for as long as there have been women politicians: Belittle their intelligence, dismiss their experience, and if that doesn’t work, say something demeaning about their sexuality. The Republicans are doing this with Congresswoman Cortez. The brilliant thing about her is that she’s smarter than any of them, more experienced than any of them give her credit for, and far too strong to stand for their humiliations."

What If You Could Get A Time Machine And Go Back To 1946 when Baby Trump Was In His Crib?

You remember Anne Frank, the Dutch girl with the diary during the German occupation of Amsterdam, right? She could be a 77-year-old woman living in Boston or Atlanta or Laguna Niguel today but she was denied a U.S. visa because she was Jewish and seen as a danger. Nice diary, though, right? Utah Republican, Jason Chaffetz, one of the most partisan hacks in Congress, announced yesterday that he's considering a bill to require presidents to undergo independent mental health exams. It has finally begun to dawn on Republicans that electing a mentally unbalanced narcissist and psychopath to the White House and then enabling him, is, to say the very least, not patriotic... and not safe. Yesterday Trump suddenly announced that he had dropped the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the National Security Principles Committee and replaced them with neo-Nazi crackpot Steve Bannon.



I'm not an observant Jew but this past June I was in St. Petersburg, Russia-- a city with incredibly beautiful public buildings-- and I visited the Grand Choral Synagogue. It's the second biggest synagogue in Europe and was the first synagogue built in Russia's then-capital. It opened in 1893. My teenaged grandfather and his brothers and sisters left Russia in 1905 after a series of pograms had killed thousands of Jews across the country including in small, rural villages like the one his family lived in. When he got to St Petersburg to board a ship for America, the Grand Choral Synagogue was 12 years old. He wasn't any more religious than I am but he had never been in a grand building of any kind before. He prayed at the synagogue the night before leaving for America. When his ship got to New York only he and one brother were allowed, arbitrarily, to enter the U.S. 10 brothers and sisters wound up in Bahia and Recife in Brazil. Almost my whole family lives in Brazil and speaks Portuguese. The U.S. turned them away because Jews were looked down on and feared, the way Germans and the Irish and Italians and Chinese had once been looked down on and feared. Hours after Trump announced his ban on Muslims, a Texas mosque was burned down. It reminded people of when Hitler's and Goebbels' anti-Jewish rhetoric resulted in the burning of synagogues across Germany and Austria in 1938.



Trump has brought this back-- but for Muslims. And it started yesterday. Right after he was declared the winner of the presidential election, several state universities across the country-- including here in California-- wrote to their students studying abroad to warn them that once Trump took over the possibility of some of them not being allowed to re-enter the U.S. would be a real possibility. That started yesterday. Reuters reported that Trump included green card holders in his Muslim ban, in other words, barring legal permanent residents from returning to the U.S. The first report in yesterday's NY Times indicated that Friday night "refugees who were in the air on the way to the United States when the order was signed were stopped and detained at airports" and that the Trump Regime will be entangled in law suits immediately as a result.

The detentions prompted legal challenges as lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy Airport filed a writ of habeas corpus early Saturday in the Eastern District of New York seeking to have their clients released. At the same time, they filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

...It was unclear how many refugees and immigrants were being held nationwide in the aftermath of the executive order. The complaints were filed by a prominent group including the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, the National Immigration Law Center, Yale Law School’s Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization and the firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.

The lawyers said that one of the Iraqis detained at Kennedy Airport, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, had worked on behalf of the U.S. government in Iraq for 10 years. The other, Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, was coming to the United States to join his wife, who had worked for a U.S. contractor, and young son, the lawyers said. They said both men were detained at the airport Friday night after arriving on separate flights.

The attorneys said they were not allowed to meet with their clients, and there were tense moments as they tried to reach them.

“Who is the person we need to talk to?” asked one of the lawyers, Mark Doss, supervising attorney at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

“Mr. President,” said a Customs and Border Protection agent, who declined to identify himself. “Call Mr. Trump[anzee].”

Trumpanzee has shut down the White House call-in lines but you can leave him a message at his hotels and other shady businesses. Most mainstream Jewish groups are horrified but, predictably, the very right-wing Zionist Organization of America is on Trump's side. ZOA's extremist president, Morton Klein (no relation) says his organization "is appalled that leftwing Jewish groups are wrongly analogizing this humane, reasonable, security-based draft Executive Order to U.S. restrictions in the 1930s on Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany. A ZOA official who had several relatives on the SS St. Louis is particularly offended that leftwing Jewish groups are attempting to analogize President Trump’s humane draft Executive Order to Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s refusal to allow the SS St. Louis, which was carrying over 900 Jews, land in the United States.  Europe’s Jews in the 1930s – 1940s had no safe zones to flee to: Britain had slammed shut the door to the area that is now the State of Israel. Most importantly, Jewish refugees posed no threat to the United States. No Jewish immigrants flew airplanes into buildings, or massacred scores of innocent people at a holiday party or nightclub or marathon or drive trucks into innocent citizens.

"As Homeland Security Committee Chair Congressman Peter King put it: 'in [previous] refugee situations [Bosnian refugees in the 1990s, Jew in the 1930s], the refugees coming were not a threat to the United States. . .  the Jews [in the 1930s] . . . should have been let in, because they were no threat to the United States, plus they needed, of course, the relief from the horror they were going through. In this case [Syrian refugees], we have no idea who we’re getting. And a lot of these refugees . . . were [already in Turkey and] going to Europe for economic gain. And, you can understand that, but do you open up all your borders, not knowing who’s a real refugee, who’s coming for economic reasons, and who is affiliated with ISIS?'... ZOA strongly praises President Trump for his wise and humane order that protects Americans."

Over the weekend, David Brooks compared Señor Trumpanzee to one of his own heroes, Ronald Reagan.

Trump is on his political honeymoon, which should be a moment of joy and promise. But he seems to suffer from an angry form of anhedonia, the inability to experience happiness. Instead of savoring the moment, he’s spent the week in a series of nasty squabbles about his ratings and crowd sizes.

If Reagan’s dominant emotional note was optimism, Trump’s is fear. If Reagan’s optimism was expansive, Trump’s fear propels him to close in: Pull in from Asian entanglements through rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Pull in from European entanglements by disparaging NATO. It’s not a cowering, timid fear; it’s more a dark, resentful porcupine fear.

We have a word for people who are dominated by fear. We call them cowards. Trump was not a coward in the business or campaign worlds. He could take on enormous debt and had the audacity to appear at televised national debates with no clue what he was talking about. But as president his is a policy of cowardice. On every front, he wants to shrink the country into a shell.

J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a shortcut to meet it.”

Desperate to be liked, Trump adopts a combative attitude that makes him unlikable. Terrified of Mexican criminals, he wants to build a wall that will actually lock in more undocumented aliens than it will keep out. Terrified of Muslim terrorists, he embraces the torture policies guaranteed to mobilize terrorists. Terrified that American business can’t compete with Asian business, he closes off a trade deal that would have boosted annual real incomes in the United States by $131 billion, or 0.5 percent of G.D.P. Terrified of Mexican competition, he considers slapping a 20 percent tariff on Mexican goods, even though U.S. exports to Mexico have increased 97 percent since 2005.

Trump has changed the way the Republican Party sees the world. Republicans used to have a basic faith in the dynamism and openness of the free market. Now the party fears openness and competition.

Brooks frets that his party has fundamentally changed and he pinpoints that change to when "Trump became the Republican nominee and his dark fearfulness became the party’s dark fearfulness. In this case fear is not a reaction to the world. It is a way of seeing the world. It propels your reactions to the world. As Reagan came to office he faced refugee crises, with suffering families coming in from Cuba, Vietnam and Cambodia. Filled with optimism and confidence, Reagan vowed, 'We shall seek new ways to integrate refugees into our society,' and he delivered on that promise. Trump faces a refugee crisis from Syria. And though no Syrian-American has ever committed an act of terrorism on American soil, Trump’s response is fear. Shut them out... A mean wind is blowing."

A few minutes ago a liberalish friend of mine called to complain about how Trump is destroying our relationship with Mexico, causing unnecessary tension and anxiety and creating negative feelings for no reasons. When I brought up the horror at the airports he said he doesn't care about "fucking Muslim terrorists from Somalia." We're doomed. I read him Pastor Martin Niemöller's famous little homily after he was freed from a Nazi concentration camp.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Don't let Trump divide us. Please speak out. Loudly. Clearly. wo of the first congressional resisters to jump into action yesterday were Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez who traveled to JFK airport to demand the release of the dozen refugees being held under Trump's unconstitutional executive order. They got one of them-- an Iraqi who fought for the U.S.-- released quickly and were still working to free the other 11 as I wrote this. Nadler's and Velazquez's statement:

Today, we saw in real human terms the damage and the absurdity of Trump’s policies. The president’s executive order is mean-spirited, ill-conceived, and ill-advised. The order almost banned a man from entering the country who has worked for the United States government for 10 years, who risked his life to help us and to help our troops, and who loves our country. Thankfully, we did not sit idly by. We took action. We demanded his release, and the release of the others who are being unlawfully detained. We are pleased to announce that Hameed Khalid Darweesh has been released and can now be reunited with his family.

This should not happen in America. We shouldn’t have to demand the release of refugees one by one. We must fight this executive order in the streets, in the courts, anywhere, anytime. We must resist. We must fight.  We must keep working to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Constitutional Crisis Already

Three federal judges, one in New York, one in Alexandria, VA and one in Seattle all handed down rulings blocking Trump's unconstitutional orders to detain Muslim visa and green card holders at airports. Bannon had the Department of Homeland Security issue a statement that they would continue implementing Trump's illegal order. (A 4th federal judge, in Boston, has since weighed in that Trump's orders to ban legal immigrants is unwarranted and he blocked it pending further hearings.) Bannon's defiance: "The president's Executive Orders remain in place-- prohibited travel will remain prohibitted, and the U.S. government retains the right to revoke visas at any time if required for national security or public safety."