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Ilhan Omar Puts Nancy Pelosi On The Clock In Disturbing Power Play
(FiveNation.com)- Progressive Representative Ilhan Omar, a member of the infamous “Squad,” is putting pressure on her party’s leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Minnesota representative said recently that she would expect Pelosi to place sanctions on Republican Representative Lauren Boebert from Colorado before the end of the year, for suggesting that Omar is a terrorist.
On Sunday, Omar appeared with Jake Tapper of CNN and said:
“I have had a conversation with the speaker, and I’m very confident that she will take decisive action next week … It’s important for us to say, this kind of language, this kind of hate cannot be condoned by the House of Representatives. And we should punish and sanction Boebert by stripping her of her committees, by rebuking her language, by doing everything that we can to send a clear and decisive message to the American public that, if the Republicans are not going to be adults and condone — condemn this, that we are going to do that.”
The remarks Omar is referring to, which started a feud between her and Boebert, happened just a few weeks ago. Boebert was sharing a story about an interaction she had with Omar in the Capitol building, where she suggested, in a roundabout way, that Omar was a terrorist.
Boebert’s remarks were:
“I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers, and he and I were leaving the Capitol, we’re going back to my office and we get in the elevator and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face.
“And he’s reaching. The door is shutting. I can’t open it. What’s happening? I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar, and I said, ‘Well she doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.'”
After being criticized for the remarks, Boebert apologized on twitter to “anyone in the Muslim community I offended.” She even called Omar directly to apologize, but the progressive representative hung up on her.
In the days that followed, CNN unearthed a video of Boebert giving a speech in September where she suggesting Omar was “evil” and “black-hearted.”
Now, Omar is trying to put pressure on Pelosi to do what she and the Democrats have already done to other Republicans they don’t like — sanction them and strip them of committee assignments. They did that already earlier this year to Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona.
The House even went as far as formally censuring Gosar for posting an edited video showing him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the Squad.
During the censure proceedings, Pelosi said:
“We cannot have a member joking about murdering each other or threatening the President of the United States. Disguising death threats as a video doesn’t make it less real. It’s a sad day for the House of Representatives, but a necessary day.”
Now, Pelosi must decide whether she should take more “necessary” action on another Republican member of the House.
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Biden deserves everything he gets because he earned it. The White House basement isn't low enough in my opinion. He is beyond a fraud.
Biden faces lowest approval ratings yet in handling of inflation, COVID-19, gun violence
USA TODAY
President Joe Biden received heavy criticism from the American public in his handling of the economy, COVID-19 and gun violence, in a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday.
As the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads across the country, resulting in renewed mask mandates, travel restrictions and a third vaccine shot, Biden took a significant hit in Americans’ faith in his handling of the pandemic. While a majority of Americans (53%) still approve of Biden’s response, 45% disapprove, marking the most since he took office and a nearly 20 percentage point drop from March, when 72% of Americans approved of his response.
More: Biden offers condolences, federal resources to areas ravaged by devastating tornadoes
Biden's approval rating slid in his handling of gun violence and crime, as the United States has experienced a surge in gun-related violence and deaths this year, including a shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan on Nov. 30 that left four dead and several injured. Biden faced a seven-percentage point drop in his handling of both issues since October.
Two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of gun violence, while 32% approve, the ABC News/Ipsos poll found, and only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of crime while 61% disapprove. Both approval numbers are the lowest Biden has seen since his took office.
As inflation continues to surge in the United States, Americans have named it their top concern, surpassing the pandemic. The poll found that 28% of Americans approved of Biden’s handling of inflation, while a majority of Americans, at 69%, disapproved.
More: A 'house on fire': Biden democracy summit comes as US grapples with own democratic crisis
Biden has also seen a drop in approval rates in his handling of the economic recovery, with 41% of Americans approving his handling in December, compared to 47% back in October. Disapproval rates of Biden’s handling of the economy jumped. Fifty-seven percent of Americans surveyed disapproved of his handling of the economy, compared to the 53% in October.
The poll was conducted Dec.10-11, among a random sample of 524 Americans, with a margin of error of 5%.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden approval ratings on COVID-19, inflation sink in new poll
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As CNN loses listenership it will lose more with Wallace aboard, As they make their transition to the center it will still leave them grasping and failing because FOX will continue with the audience they are seeking. Wallace is a blowhard.
Symbolically perhaps the "deplorables and Neanderthals" are beginning to be heard.
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CNN Wokistas Panic over Chris Wallace
Network's paymaster at Discovery signaling big shift
In our latest episode of Simon & Whiton, we discussed today’s news that Chris Wallace is leaving Fox for CNN. Some points about that story and other news in media and business:
The woke politicos who have taken over CNN and driven it into the ground are terrified.
Chris Wallace is a lefty establishmentarian, but he does not do woke.
His move to CNN may reflect a forced transition back to the center and back to hard news.
Wallace has known John Malone, chairman of Discovery, which co-owns CNN along with AT&T.
Instead of flicking the CNN booger off of Discovery’s finger when it acquired WarnerMedia, Malone said at the time: “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing.”
This could be the beginning of a major shift that will deprive woke politicos of a network that gave them a veneer of legitimacy, even as they demolished its credibility and wrecked its ratings.
CNN’s shift would signal MSNBC that it will have an even stronger corner on the woke market.
Current CNN boss Jeff Zucker is in trouble.
Wallace helmed Fox’s Sunday show through a time when they declined in importance. Long gone are the days when the Sunday shows set the political and news agenda for the week and were must-see for DC and media insiders. Remember David Brinkley and Barbara Walters? If you do, you’re old.
Wallace’s style was a poor man’s Tim Russert. He was confrontational for the sake of being confrontational, tried to make himself the story (and succeeded in the 2020 presidential debate), and actually caused guests to be more scripted and insular. At CNN, he’ll probably dabble like Christiane Amanpour, doing the interviews with gross muckety-mucks he couldn’t do at Fox.
It’s a long shot that CNN can regain its credibility and ability to report straight news.
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Does Biden believe a war will bail him out as Carlson recently postulated? If so better not et Milley know.
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Biden moving closer to Israel’s call for 'plan B' on Iran - analysis
Disagreement persists on the Iran Deal, but Jerusalem and Washington are growing more united on Iran.
One meeting was with an old friend. The other was with a critic. In both settings, Benny Gantz could essentially say, “I told you so.”
Israel’s defense minister was in Washington on Thursday for talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Gantz and Austin have been friendly since Gantz’s days in Washington as Israel’s defense attaché, while Austin helmed US Central Command, the combatant command with purview over America’s military activities in the Middle East. Blinken, meanwhile, chided Gantz mere weeks ago in a phone call regarding Gantz’s approval of the advancement of Israeli plans to build new homes in Judea & Samaria (the West Bank), contrary to the vocalized policy of the Biden administration. The call was tense, according to multiple Israeli officials.
Gantz came to the US with a checklist, and two of the boxes were seemingly ticked before he landed.
With American officials surprised at Iran’s recalcitrance in what seem like dead-end negotiations in Vienna surrounding the Iranian nuclear accord, the Biden administration appears, albeit slowly, to be coming around to Israel’s line of thinking all along: Better to waive the stick at Iran than the carrot.
A senior US official said this week that American and Israeli officials are discussing the possibility of military exercises to prepare for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, should diplomacy fail. The Biden administration has been looking to crawl back into the nuclear deal that former US President Donald Trump tossed into the trash. But, Iran has dragged out the discussions, backtracked on frameworks reached in previous rounds of talks and has been unrelenting in its demands that all sanctions – whether related to its nuclear program or not – be lifted immediately. In the meantime, Tehran has been enriching uranium at concerning levels as it speeds toward the capacity to weaponize its nuclear materials. It has also restricted monitors from the United Nations atomic watchdog from accessing its nuclear facilities, raising concerns about what the government is doing behind closed doors.
Israeli officials have prodded, pushed and practically begged the White House to establish a credible military threat to take down Iran’s nuclear program, and this week’s revelation of potential US-Israel military exercises is the first time Biden’s people have gone beyond the standard, “all options are on the table.”
In his remarks before meeting with Gantz at the Pentagon, Austin voiced his displeasure with the pace and tone of Tehran in the latest rounds of negotiations, adding “We share Israel’s deep concerns about the Iranian government’s destabilizing actions, including its support for terrorism and its missile program, and its alarming nuclear advances.”
Seated to Austin’s left was Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signifying the meeting’s importance and urgency.
Talks in Vienna on Thursday ended an hour after resuming following a few days’ pause, with tensions high after Tehran made demands that European countries strongly criticized. Last week’s session was the first in over five months, a gap caused by a new hardline government assuming power in Tehran.
Israeli officials have been pressing the Biden administration to ramp up sanctions on Iran, rather than concede to it in talks. Again, Gantz could check off a box, with reports emerging during his trip that a delegation of State Department and Treasury Department officials would travel in the coming days to the United Arab Emirates, with the goal of pressuring Tehran’s number two trade partner and reliable conduit for trade and financial transactions to play a greater role in helping its ally in Washington to enforce sanctions on Tehran already in place.
Biden “has asked his team to be prepared in the event diplomacy fails,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during Gantz’s visit. If talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program fail, “we will have no choice but to take additional measures” to restrict Iran’s revenue, she said.
Gantz and Austin also discussed the possibilities that may come with expanded normalization between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors.
“Only a strong, secure Israel can extend its hand in peace to its neighbors. Only a strong and secure Israel can expand the Abraham Accords and normalization, deepen our ties with Jordan and Egypt, and build confidence with our Palestinian neighbors,” Gantz said.
Ironically, the Palestinian issue has both won Gantz plaudits and caused him headaches at the State Department, where he met with Blinken. Largely out of domestic political considerations, the defense minister has taken a lead role in the current government in smoothing and improving relations with the Palestinian Authority, even as a diplomatic peace process seems at a dead-end. Gantz is the highest-level government official to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Regional Cooperation Minister Essawi Frej hinted on Thursday that a second meeting may be in the works. Gantz has initiated or approved a number of other measures intended to improve the economic situation in the Palestinian-governed territories.
Yet, any proposed Israeli settlement expansion has drawn increasing wrath from the Biden administration, and Gantz has become Blinken’s punching bag on the matter, due to the defense ministry’s oversight of disputed territory where Jewish settlers live.
The minister said that Gantz “expressed his gratitude for the personal and professional contribution made by Secretary Blinken to the enduring US-Israel bond and to many years of friendship,” spoke of opportunities in the new Middle East and touched on ways to “advance confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including economic and civilian measures.”
Still, it’s the American secretary’s team at the table in Vienna. A promise by then-nominee Blinken to bargain for a “longer, stronger nuclear deal” turned into a recent pitch for a “less is less” model, which was frowned on by both Jerusalem and Tehran – a rare point of agreement between the two.
Israeli officials have proclaimed – loudly and behind closed doors – that Iran was never serious about re-entering the nuclear accord, and has simply been buying time, playing the Americans for suckers. Based on American rhetoric this week, it seems the US has finally come around and is ready to engage in discussions on a topic Israel has been pushing for months – a Plan B.
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