(I just put this on my FB.
FURTHER READING
Though most of you blog-friends aren't from Minnesota's 5th congressional district, perhaps you might be interested in our primary race tomorrow, which is of some national importance.)
Why I'm voting to reelect Ilhan Omar as U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district
I want Ilhan to continue to be a vocal, visible refutation of Trump's hate mongering. Trump has specifically targeted her.
[Further reading at end of post. Because, LIBRARIAN.]
A picture's worth 1,000 words.
But, Ilhan's got issues, yeah, so a few words too.
1. TRUMP hates her: “How do you have such a person representing you in Minnesota?"
--Remember how his tweets had his supporters chanting, "Send her back"? [1]
--Remember how his tweets had his supporters chanting, "Send her back"? [1]
* * * I want Ilhan to represent what I love: "Girls to the front", the Statue of Liberty, and all of our yet-to-be-fully-realized democratic ideals.
2. Ilhan's presence as a progressive Muslim woman is important.
Trump said Minneapolitans had “suffered enough” as a result of “filthy refugee vetting” from "f------ Somalia". [1]
"In the Trump administration, we will always protect American families first, and that has not been done in Minnesota." [1]
See above.
[On a personal note, my grandparents came from the "filthy", impoverished island of Sicily 100 years ago. I object to Trump's small-heartedness, which is not the American ideal.]
3. Meanwhile, Antone Melton-Meaux sounds reasonable, but he receives funding from PACS such as America for Tomorrow's Future [2]--the name is as garbled as its thinking:
it supports the nationalistic, militaristic policies of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu & his ilk. [2, 3]
NORPAC & others are nonpartisan, but their donors are not--many are Trump supporters. [2]
FURTHER READING
1. QUOTES from "Stunning in ugliness & tone’: Trump denounced for attacking Somali refugees in Minnesota", Washington Post, October 11, 2019.
2. On PACS & Trump supporters:
"What Antone Melton-Meaux’s primary challenge to Ilhan Omar is all about"
"What Antone Melton-Meaux’s primary challenge to Ilhan Omar is all about"
“[Antone] Melton-Meaux has also received financial support from a group not commonly connected with DFL candidates in the reliably liberal Fifth District: At least twice over the last few months, a bipartisan group that includes a number of Trump supporters has come together over Zoom to talk about why Melton-Meaux is their preferred candidate.
"The fundraisers have been put on by NORPAC, a nonpartisan group that supports hard-line conservative policies in Israel. The group supported President Trump’s move to remove the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal and his action to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem."
3. Jimmy Carter, who has earned respect on this issue--denounced Trump & Netanyahu's policies:
Jan 30, 2020:
"President Trump’s plan for unilateral annexation to Israel of a large piece of the occupied Palestinian territories offers the Palestinians fragmented statehood,without control of their borders, in four years and subject to certain conditions, and leaves the status of large parts of the West Bank to be determined in the future.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has called for the immediate annexation to Israel of all settlements in the West Bank."
4. More
discussion from the blog of observer of local MN politics, Naomi Kritzer. Kritzer doesn't like Ilhan Omar's
ill-considered comments about the Jewish community but reluctantly
supports her:
––because Antone Melton-Meaux's "political hawkishness feels more likely to result in worse outcomes for more people than casual antisemitism from someone who doesn’t *hate* Jewish people,but also doesn’t give enough of a shit about her Jewish friends and supporters to make any apparent effort not to kick off another exhausting round of'Ilhan Omar: antisemitic? SECRETLY A NAZI? let’s discuss this endlessly on Twitter!' "
I would vote for her just because she pisses off Trump and Fox News. As you said, it's good for her to be in a position like that -- as a woman, a Muslim and a refutation of poisonous Republican politics.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDelete--Frex = Fresca