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The Dem Congressmen Boycotting Netanyahu are the Same Old Hamas SupportersPosted By Daniel Greenfield On February 26, 2015 @ 6:02 pm In The Point | 12 Comments There are a lot of stories about the Dem members of Congress boycotting Netanyahu’s speech. But most of the names on the list are longtime opponents of the Jewish State.The boycott lists consists of two groups. Congressional Black Caucus members who are offended on Obama’s behalf and can smell racism anywhere.The other consists of opponents of Israel.It’s instructive to compare the list of boycotters to the 54 members of Congress who signed...

More than two dozen states have joined the Texas lawsuit opposing President Obama’s executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, but more eye-opening is the list of Republican governors whose names still do not appear on the suit. The seven Republicans who have thus far elected not to join the suit aimed at reining in Obama are Chris Christie of New Jersey, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Larry Hogan of Maryland, Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Matthew Mead of Wyoming, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Bruce Rauner of Illinois. Five of those seven states – Maryland, Iowa, New Mexico, Massachusetts and...

Both Israeli and American pundits have spent the last month abusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision to accept an invitation to speak to a joint session of Congress next month about the Iranian nuclear threat. The White House’s effort to spin the speech as a breach of protocol and an unwarranted interference in a U.S. debate about Iran has largely succeeded in rallying a significant number of congressional Democrats to back away from support of the sanctions bill co-sponsored by Senators Mark Kirk and Bob Menendez, as well as getting some to threaten to boycott Netanyahu’s speech. But...

The proportion of Democrats who sympathize more with Israel than with Palestinians in the Mideast conflict dropped ten points this year to 48 percent, according to a new poll by Gallup. The polling company suggested a link to tensions between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the Iran nuclear threat. In addition, the percentage of Democrats viewing Israel favorably also dropped—by 14 points—over the past year, from 74 percent to 60, the poll found. By contrast Republican sympathy for Israel over the Palestinians rose to 83 percent, continuing a trend that has risen from the low 50s...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Tuesday an invitation to meet with US Senate Democrats during his trip to Washington next week. "Though I greatly appreciate your kind invitation to meet with Democratic Senators, I believe that doing so at this time could compound the misperception of partisanship regarding my upcoming visit," Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Senators Richard Durbin and Dianne Feinstein obtained by Reuters. Durbin and Feinstein had invited Netanyahu to a closed-door meeting with Democratic senators in a letter on Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog Sunday of undermining his efforts to prevent Iran’s nuclearization by declining to call a potentially nuclear Iran an existential threat to the State of Israel. “I agree that a nuclear Iran is extremely dangerous, and I believe that it must be prevented,” Herzog said in an interview with Washington Post correspondents William Booth and Ruth Eglash. “No Israeli leader will accept a nuclear Iran. All options for me are still on the table,” including Israeli military strikes. When they asked if he agrees with Netanyahu that a nuclear Iran would...

Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog announced Tuesday he will not be traveling to the US to appear before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual conference, amid growing tensions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech to Congress on March 3. "Netanyahu's spin about who is going to Washington must stop," Herzog told a gathering of foreign media in Israel. "My firm position against a nuclear Iran is known by every Israeli and American, including the US president, and I know how to voice it in a sharp, clear manner - from here, not from there." Herzog added: "A...

On Monday Senators. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., invited Netanyahu to meet in a closed-door session with Democrats during his visit. Netanyahu declined the invitation on Tuesday and expressed regret about the politically fraught tone of his trip. “I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan,” Netanyahu wrote. “I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel’s grave concerns about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran that could threaten the survival of my country.” Netanyahu said to...

Four years ago, former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel breezed to victory in the Chicago mayor's race. He was the golden boy of Democratic politics, mentioned in some party circles as a possible presidential candidate in 2016. Yesterday, the incumbent mayor was humiliated by failing to receive a majority of the votes against 4 relative unknowns. The result forces an April 7 runoff where he is still expected to win handily, but is now considered damaged goods. His downfall? Persistent violence and a pension shortfall threatening to bankrupt the city. Bloomberg: “We have come a long way and...

The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site. The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will easily take first place in Tuesday’s municipal election, but polls show he may miss the 50 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off in the race to lead the financially challenged, third-largest U.S. city. Emanuel, 55, a former adviser to President Barack Obama seeking a second term as mayor, has already spent millions of dollars in the non-partisan race against four challengers, and a second round will mean six more weeks of expensive campaigning. Emanuel is close to the mark, getting 48.3 percent of the vote in a recent Ogden & Fry poll. His nearest...

**SNIP** So Thursday, the FEC sent Jackson’s campaign committee its eighth consecutive failure-to-file notice. It must file its end-of-the year report for 2014 or face a penalty. (Perhaps that threat rings a bit hollow when you’re already in jail?) In August 2014, the FEC fined Jackson for nearly $18,000 for not filing reports in 2013, according to the Chicago Tribune. He must formally terminate his committee to get the FEC off his back, but his treasurer quit in September 2013, and so it seems there’s no person responsible for doing the necessary paperwork. Since his last report in November 2012,...

Chicago really doesn't need a presidential temple of worship masquerading as a presidential library, or a fancy downtown college basketball palace, or a Star Wars museum on the lakefront. And downtown doesn't need a big casino, either, not even a glitzy one with monstrous video billboards depicting the giant, pitiless eyes of the mayor staring down at those from the neighborhoods who dared to look up. Downtown has been getting quite a bit of attention, and though it might be nice to have all these things, (or not) — they aren't vital to the future of Chicago. But there is...

A group of 23 liberal House Democrats urged Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday to delay Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress next month. In the letter spearheaded by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the lawmakers argued that Netanyahu was being used as a "political tool" against President Obama. "As members of Congress who support Israel, we share concern that it appears that you are using a foreign leader as a political tool against the president," they wrote. Netanyahu's March 3 address will be just two weeks before the Israeli elections and...

A wrongfully convicted man filed a $40 million lawsuit on Tuesday against Northwestern University, a former journalism professor, a private investigator and an attorney, accusing them of framing him for a double murder to get another man released. Alstory Simon, 64, of Ohio, claims in the lawsuit that he was the victim of unethical tactics by a team focused on freeing another man in what became a celebrated Illinois wrongful conviction case. Simon was imprisoned in 1999 after confessing to the 1982 murder of two people in a park, and spent more than 15 years behind bars before he was...

Amid depressed turnout and pent-up frustration with the Springfield status quo, Illinois voters last November ousted Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, awarding billionaire venture capitalist Bruce Rauner a five-point victory. The five weeks since Rauner took office as Illinois’ first Republican governor in a dozen years have offered a vivid illustration of the truism that elections have consequences — consequences that will be paid disproportionately by the state’s poor, working class, and middle-income citizens. Rauner fired the opening salvo in his war on workers earlier this month, issuing an executive order that allows public employees to opt out of paying fees...

CHICAGO - Former Republican congressman and conservative radio host Joe Walsh says he's "seriously looking into" a primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk next year. He told Illinois Review he will decide within the next two months. Citing Kirk's lack of support for Jim Oberweis' 2014 challenge to Dick Durbin, Walsh told the Daily Herald: "As far as I'm concerned, he [Kirk] left the Republican Party." The usual political pontificators speculate that Walsh is merely looking to boost ratings, and will ultimately not run. "It's about him and promoting himself and promoting his positions. He's just not viable,” said...

Longtime presidential adviser David Axelrod claims 'there hasn't been a major scandal' in the Obama White House – and draws a mix of applause and laughter Longtime Obama administration political insider David Axelrod claimed on Monday that the Obama administration hasn't been tainted by a smidgen of scandal. The surprising boast came during a Q&A at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, an organization he founded and leads. 'I'm proud of the fact that basically you have had an administration in place for six years in which there hasn’t been a major scandal,' Axelrod said. 'And I think that...

<p>CHICAGO - The longtime head of a suburban Chicago Islamic school has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a 23-year-old woman who worked at the school.</p> <p>Police said Tuesday that 75-year-old Mohammad Abdullah Saleem faces a felony charge and was arrested Sunday. He is due in court on Tuesday.</p>

---SNIP--- On a nitty-gritty level, I would be interested if Dave Zirin can think of a single example on the South Side of Chicago of a) Boys and Girls Clubs that are now bistros, or b) public baseball diamonds that are now condos. Actually, I'm not that interested, because I know the answer, which is "No," because a) those things did not happen and b) Dave Zirin made them up. One reason I know that Dave Zirin made them up is that black neighborhoods in Chicago, particularly on the South Side, almost never gentrify. --SNIP-- Which means that Dave Zirin...