[Peace] Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), other "progressives" join the corporatists in "the biggest handoff in US history"

[J.B. Nicholson]

Karen Aram wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfOPSq705To

Jimmy Dore played a clip of the "schizophrenic"[1] Democracy Now interview of Rep. 
Ilhan Omar from 
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/27/rep_ilhan_omar_coronavirus_relief_bill --

> Rep. Ilhan Omar: [...] And I think this crisis and this pandemic really lays bare
> the kind of inequalities that have existed for far too long in our country. And
> the conversations we’re having right now as we put forth our third relief package
> shows us that there is often a prioritization of corporate interests and often not
> a prioritization of the interests of the people.
> 
> So, today I plan on voting for this bill, not because it’s perfect or it’s
> sufficient, but because I think, in a time where we are facing one of the largest
> crises we’ve faced in our country, it’s going to be really important for us to do
> everything that we can to protect the lives and the livelihoods of the people of
> this country. My home state, just in 10 days, there has been 165,000 people who
> filed for unemployment insurance. And nationwide, as you said, it’s 3.3 million.
> And so we have to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to deliver
> relief.

Later, Max Blumenthal remarked:

> Max Blumenthal: I mean you have Boeing which has planes dropping out of the sky
> like hail in Nebraska -- the 737 Max doesn't fly. It was in complete crisis.
> They've been begging for federal money, and lobbying for federal money for years,
> they finally got one of their lobbyists as the Defense Secretary. And so $17
> billion is tucked into the stimulus under the cover of urgent national security
> priorities. It's just Boeing money, it's earmarked for Boeing. Then, you know, AOC
> -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- she is right: she said on Twitter the cruise
> industry is being bailed out even register in the United States specifically to
> avoid paying taxes in the United States. They also have de-facto slave labor --
> indentured servants on-board and they don't want to abide by any labor laws. They
> got bailed out. So AOC delivers this great performance on the House floor that
> everyone's sharing on Twitter saying "Slay Queen, she's so great". She voted for
> it [the bailout bill]. She voted for it. Bernie too, he performed very well for
> the cameras but it was just grandstanding at the end of the day. It's to satisfy
> their progressive base on Twitter, to have these little performances clipped out
> by people who think they're heroes, that they actually accomplished something
> substantial but they still voted for a Titanic -- it's not a corporate bailout,
> it's the reinforcement of corporate control over our lives for at least another
> generation. And the most hated man in Washington is a Republican congressman who
> lives in a house that he built by himself, a completely environmentally
> sustainable house that he built by himself, on a hilltop in Kentucky who is a
> die-hard Libertarian named Thomas Massie. Thomas Massie managed to unite Donald
> Trump and the Democrats in hatred of him because he actually tried to hold up this
> bill in order to force every single member to record a vote according to the
> Constitution.

Part of this reiterates what Jimmy Dore covered in 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u23YwwfTVU entitled "AOC Screams Against Stimulus 
Bill Then Votes For It"[2] which Dore replays.

Dore & Blumenthal also point out that AOC voted for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the 
House. I've been saying on peace-discuss and peace mailing lists that this was a 
critical vote against Medicare for All allowing AOC to do the two-faced bullshit 
she's doing here: give speeches about how we, as a country, need Medicare for All, 
but voting in a manner to prevent Medicare for All from ever coming to the floor for 
a vote. This is AOC's insurance plan against ever having to put her vote where her 
mouth is. And thus rendering it moot how good any Medicare for All bill is, possibly 
making it so that we always have one or two Medicare for All bills just so the HMOs 
get comparable insurance -- the HMOs people like AOC effectively work for get to tell 
us things like "if you don't like what the HMOs are doing, get your Congresspeople to 
bring one or both of those bills up for a vote" knowing full well that their campaign 
contributions will prevent that from ever happening.

Sanders was brought to heel years ago. Now more people can see the so-called 
progressive left women who get so much press for being progressive women fail to do 
what's important. Posing for identity politics-driven Vanity Fair covers versus 
helping us all in our time of need.

Jimmy Dore tells us that Ilhan Omar, AOC, Rashid Talib, Ayanna Presley, Tulsi 
Gabbard, Ro Khanna, and Bernie Sanders were all supposed to be coming out two weeks 
ago saying "what the fuck is going on?" and not voting for this bailout bill. They've 
all 'been brought to heel' (to use a term from another identity politics woman) by 
big businesses. Litmus tests apparently work (despite former Pres. Obama's tsk-tsking 
us from using litmus tests of our own to evaluate members of Congress). Too bad these 
Congressmembers don't work in your interest.




[1] Per Jimmy Dore to Primo Nutmeg giving an all-too-kind review of Democracy Now in 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qg-uxr9ARs around 16 minutes in. DN has fallen from 
its height during the run-up to the 2003 UK/US-led Iraq War. DN's pro-Russiagate 
stance (which is a pro-war stance, by the way) and uncritically repeating the lies 
alleging a gas attack in Douma despite the evidence that that attack never happened 
(a 4th OPCW scientist is now coming out to say this) are what led former DN 
journalist Aaron Mate to leave DN. Mate would find no home at The Intercept & The 
Real News either for the same reasons.

[2] Relatedly, Politico tells us in https://archive.md/UaPmy 
(https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/new-aoc-divides-the-left-150767) that "AOC 
breaks with Bernie on how to lead the left" by accepting less of the "uncompromising" 
"left" side and working more with the "centrists" who "[work] within the system in 
Congress" (read: capitalists who side with big business, reaching decisions 
indistinguishable from those people like AOC used to rail against). Since when was 
Bernie Sanders not one of these people? He ran his campaign telling us repeatedly how 
former VP Joe Biden is "a friend of mine", "a decent guy", and "can beat [Pres.] 
Trump". Since when is merely beating Pres. Trump a goal? Do you really care who 
brings you Medicare for All, an end to homelessness by giving the homeless homes, a 
national jobs program, UBI, or other programs we really need now? Are you aware of 
the Democrats' shameful history on HR 676 (the late Michigan Rep. John Conyers' 
Medicare for All bill which sat on the metaphorical shelf even when Dems had a 
majority in both houses of Congress)?