Ilhan Omar

Derided by the MAGA right and yelled at by the far left? It's hard to imagine a more Jewish place to be.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey doubled down on his resistance to President Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts today, vowing that his city will be a “safe haven" for illegal immigrants.

Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet is the latest House member to receive Senate buzz in Michigan. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota has long been subjected to racist attacks from Republican lawmakers and is not afraid to call out the MAGA movement’s blatant xenophobia—even when CNN anchors try to downplay it.Omar, a Somali-American who was the first African refugee elected to Congress in 2018 as well as one of the first two Muslim women in the chamber, appeared on the news network Monday, where she was asked to respond to bigoted attacks from Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas. Gill sent out a fundraising email that included a petition calling for Omar to be deported because she advised immigrants in her district on their legal rights if questioned by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers.“I mean, again, you know, these are people who have really stopped caring about our institutions, really stopped caring about our Constitution,” said Omar, who has been a U.S. citizen since 2000. “I know that it is red meat for his base that are xenophobic and racist, to say to them that I am going to find a way to arrest and deport a member of Congress.”CNN host Pam Brown then chimed in with some knee-jerk language policing. “Just to be clear,” Brown asked. “You’re not calling his—all his base, xenophobic and racist, right?”But Omar did not walk her words back.“Well, I mean, he is leading to something,” Omar answered. “He has a petition out. He's getting donations. That's what this is all about. He knows he can't deport me, there is no grounds for my arrest. So this information is only being put out there by him for a reason, and that reason is because he has a base that feeds off of that.”xxYouTube VideoGill’s lie-filled fundraising email stated, “Recently, it came out that Ilhan Omar is hosting free workshops for Somalians, who are in our country illegally, on how to evade ICE and deportation.” Gill accused the congresswoman of being “more loyal to illegal Somalians than she is to the United States, the office she was elected to.”Omar is an African woman who wears a hijab, and her GOP foes have eagerly “othered” her as an immigrant. While Omar is now a citizen, Somali refugees have temporary protected status in the United States, which means they aren’t here “illegally,” as Gill claims. But racist Congress members and their MAGA voters don’t care about that distinction. Like many other craven and opportunistic Republicans, Gill has been publicly kissing Trump’s ass, which culminated in his introduction of a measure to replace Benjamin Franklin's face on the $100 bill with none other than the orange führer’s mug.The GOP’s attacks on women of color aren’t a new phenomenon. Less than one month ago, Trump’s anti-immigrant border czar, Tom Homan, said he wanted the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for similar efforts to educate immigrants about their rights.In gooselockstep, House Republicans are using their majority to hold committee hearings and attack and pressure local municipalities unwilling to give the president’s deportation thugs free reign over their cities and citizens. Brown’s attempt to minimize Omar’s words is par for the course these days, as traditional media outlets including CNN attempt to evade Trump’s fascist wrath. Omar, who has spent much of her career being asked inherently flawed questions about bigotry, did an excellent job of handling another round of dishonest media scrutiny.You can help ensure that Daily Kos remains the paywall-free home for our shared fight for democracy and justice. Daily Kos is supported by readers like you.

Air Force fighter jets on Sunday intercepted a civilian aircraft flying in the temporarily restricted airspace near President Donald Trump’s Florida home.

The House on Thursday voted to censure an unrepentant Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, for disrupting President Donald Trump's address to Congress.

Former federal workers say Americans will soon feel the impact of the Trump administration's massive purge

A mysterious list of federal properties, including iconic buildings, vanished overnight, leaving many wondering about the government's next move.

The rock musician took aim at Democrats, urging them to “shut up” ahead of Trump’s viciously partisan speech to Congress.

For a brief period, while the rest of the government is gathered together, a designated survivor is kept away to ensure someone in the line of succession stays alive.

Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, both members of the “Squad,” lost reelection bids in November after adopting strident anti-Israel positions after Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack.

Senate Democrats passed a resolution Wednesday condemning President Donald Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to justify mass deportations.

Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith’s (D) decision to not run for reelection in 2026 is adding another headache for Democrats trying to win back control of the Senate in two years. Smith became the second Senate Democrat to announce their retirement in the past few weeks after Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) also decided against seeking another [...]

Democrats, don't get waylaid by the right-wing loons, flapping their beaks and laughing maniacally. You do have new faces with smart politics, and several are young besides. Hand over the reins.

As Elon Musk takes a jackhammer to American institutions, Democrats seem frozen in confusion. That's in part because President Donald Trump serves as wingman, diverting attention from the sabotage of government services through a carpet-bombing of bizarre plans.

'It's not always so cut and dry'

'America, we have a problem'

Rep. Ilhan Omar's bill, first obtained by HuffPost, would create a Department of Peacebuilding within the executive branch.

If Congress and the Supreme Court don’t stand up for themselves and start acting with principle instead of partisanship, Trump’s lawless acts are just getting started.

The now archived website for USAID, a department on the chopping block thanks to Elon Musk's DOGE efforts, has a webpage dedicated to promoting DEI across the world.

The delegation spoke in opposition to reports that USAID would be downsized or shut down by Elon Musk's DOGE.

Congressional Democrats vowed to intervene Monday to prevent Elon Musk from shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).The big picture: Trump, who has yet to make an official statement on USAID's future, appeared to damper Musk's ambitious plans, telling reporters the billionaire can't take action without "our approval." Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), "can't do and won't do anything without our approval," Trump said Monday at the White House. "We'll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won't." "Where we think there's a conflict or there's a problem, we won't let him go near it," Trump added.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was out of the country when Musk announced USAID was shutting down, said Monday he's now the agency's acting director.Driving the news: House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called the move to shut down the agency an "illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power," during a press conference outside the USAID headquarters,He noted that Congress created the agency and Musk "doesn't have the power to destroy it.""We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk, and that's going to become real clear," Raskin added.What they're saying: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called Musk's efforts "an absolute gift to our adversaries — to Russia, to China, to Iran and others" because the agency "is an essential instrument of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security policy."Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said a billionaire who hasn't been elected, vetted, or gone through confirmation "should not be telling American employees that they cannot access the building they work at."She added: "Privileged billionaires who don't give a damn about America and Americans should not be making decisions that put Americans at harm."Where it stands: Staffers were barred from entering the agency's headquarters, a source familiar with the USAID situation told Axios. Most of the USAID's Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management had their access to agency systems revoked as of Monday afternoon, the source said.Employees in the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, — which houses teams for agriculture and climate, among others — were told they could lose access to their emails tonight or tomorrow, the source said."We work in countries where this happens," the person told Axios. "We never imagine[d] it would happen here."Catch up quick: Musk said Monday morning that Trump had "agreed" to "shut" USAID down.That was following reports that two senior USAID officials were placed on administrative leave after barring DOGE representatives from internal systems during a recent visit.Trump himself has railed against USAID, telling reporters over the weekend that the agency was run by "radical lunatics."Axios' Avery Lotz contributed to this report.Go deeper: Ending USAID climate programs could increase security risks

An eagle emblem sits atop a flag pole in a Dirksen Senate Office Building hallway as workers renovate a nearby room. The bald eagle has held symbolic significance for centuries.

Conservative pundit and podcaster Candace Owens has been dubbed "Antisemite of the Year" by StopAntisemitism, a group that works to combat hatred against Jews, after she "blew the competition away."

A little-noticed provision in the annual defense bill would bar the Pentagon from citing the Gaza Health Ministry as an authoritative source.The post Congress Keeps Trying to Hide the True Gaza Death Toll appeared first on The Intercept.

A member of the progressive "squad" criticized the Harris-Walz campaign for its GOP outreach that included advertising the support of Liz Cheney.

Progressive lawmakers are calling on President Biden to take additional steps on federal marijuana law before his term comes to an end in January. In a letter sent to Biden and Vice President Harris, Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) [...]

“It’s a big middle finger to those on the so-called progressive left and others in the Biden camp, who essentially had a different theory of the case that failed in the election,” Katulis said.

Progressives in Congress are urging party leaders to use their two remaining months in power to erect barriers to Trump’s agenda.The post Squad Goals: Democrats Must Use Lame-Duck Power to Fight Trump Now appeared first on The Intercept.

It’s that of incuriosity. It’s that of believing to know better than those who know through experience.

The House members of the "Squad" and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are some of the prominent figures who have been re-elected to office.

Results were still coming in on Tuesday night

Dozens of House Democrats are pressing the Biden administration to get tougher on Israel when it comes to press freedoms in Gaza, warning that a lack of media access in the war-torn territory has stifled any push for accountability surrounding military operations that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. In a letter to President Biden [...]

Rep. Ilhan Omar calls for "radically" changing the Supreme Court. She advocates policies such as increasing the number of justices on the bench.

Democrats at the State Capitol and in Washington will continue to deliver it.

Trump’s proposal could violate federal law, the Brennan Center for Justice suggests, but courts could still let him get away with it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is not ruling out kicking certain House Republicans off of committees if Democrats retake the House majority.Why it matters: It's something the Democratic leader hinted at after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appointed Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) to the House Intelligence Committee."To be continued," Jeffries replied cryptically when asked during a press conference Thursday whether he would kick Perry and Jackson off the Intelligence panel and whether Democrats may exclude other Republicans from committees. Johnson's appointment of Perry and Jackson to Intel prompted bipartisan backlash due to the FBI's seizure of Perry's phone and allegations of workplace misconduct against Jackson from his time as White House physician.The intrigue: One senior House Democrat told Axios they expect Jeffries to — at a minimum — boot Jackson and Perry from the Intelligence panel.In June, Jeffries called the picks "frightening" and said, "If the American people give us the opportunity to govern with the gavels in November, we can assure you that a different decision would be made."As speaker, Jeffries would have the ability to unilaterally reject any Republican picks for the Intelligence Committee.Zoom out: Any move to kick Republicans off committees would be a continuation of a tit for tat that has roiled the last two congressional terms.The Democratic-led House voted in 2021 to strip all committee assignments from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).When Republicans took control in 2023, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) booted Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) from Intel, with the House also voting to kick Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) off the Foreign Affairs Committee.Yes, but: Some Democrats, while infuriated at the bomb throwers on their committees, would prefer to pump the breaks on the back-and-forth dynamic.House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) lamented Greene's chaotic influence on his panel in an interview with Axios, but said he is "not interested in" kicking her off."Republicans kind of set a lower precedent, lower bar this Congress," Raskin argued. "I'm hoping we can elevate the quality of our political discourse a little bit."

It can represent both tradition and change. Yet it’s always humble.

Uncommitted delegates, members of the progressive 'Squad,' hold a sit-in Wednesday night within feet of the United Center.

A biographer of Donald Trump's is seeing the ex-president start to panic after another huge night for the Democratic Party at their convention in Chicago. David Cay Johnston spotted one of Donald Trump's latest fundraising emails as a sign of anxiety. The Trump campaign's fundraising numbers have lagged despite hosting the Republican National Convention and naming his vice presidential running mate. In July, he was only able to pull in $139 million compared to Kamala Harris' nearly $500 million. Read Also: ‘A little boy’: Former GOP congressman says Trump’s worst tantrums are yet to comeThe language, he pointed out, is "red-baiting," Johnston said, "and sliming of her donors." The email flashes "EMERGENCY ALERT" at the top and another "ALERT" in a graphic at the bottom. The text is in all caps and begging for help. "She's expecting millions more dirty liberal dollars to pour in today," Trump's team wrote, revealing the Democrats' high fundraising numbers. "Today might be her best fundraising day ever!" Indeed, according to the Trump biographer, this is the "latest sign of [Trump's] panic." — (@)

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, a longtime congressman from New Jersey and unflinching critic of former President Donald Trump, died at 87 years old on Wednesday, his family announced.Pascrell (D-N.J.), a former public school teacher, state assemblyman, and mayor of Paterson, was first elected to Congress in 1996 and served 14 terms.His death led to an outpouring of tributes from dignitaries in New Jersey and across the country. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called him "a constant fighter for what is right and just."Pascrell, not one to hold back for fear of impropriety, was known for memorable one-liners. After he arrived in Washington, he put a bumper sticker on his door that said "NAFTA is Shafta," expressing his opposition to free trade agreements."The joy of Bill Pascrell is you never walked away from Bill Pascrell saying he was undecided," Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), his colleague on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, said in 2020.As he advanced in age, Pascrell became something of an ally to younger colleagues, endorsing a Green New Deal, for example. In 2019, he tweeted a satirical article from The Onion titled "82-Year-Old New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell Quietly Asks Ilhan Omar If He Can Be Part Of The Squad.""Well. How 'bout it," he jokingly asked the the small, left-wing band of lawmakers, getting an immediate "You're in, Bill Pascrell!" in response from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).Mostly, Pascrell was known in his later years for his no-holds-barred criticism of Trump—whose tax returns he pursued vigorously, in his role on the Ways and Means Committee—and other Republicans, and the comedy he produced at their expense.Pascrell took seeming delight in Trump's recent felony conviction in the New York hush money trial.A few days earlier, Pascrell took aim at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who's been mired in controversy for unreported gifts he accepted from Republican megadonors in the past. Pascrell posted an artistic rendering, based on a real scene from five years ago, of Thomas smoking a cigar while he sits beside megadonor Harlan Crow, his main benefactor, and right-wing legal influencer Leonard Leo, among others.Pascrell communicated with a directness that many Democratic officeholders are reluctant to employ, drawing praise—and smiles—from left-leaning followers of his social media account.In 2018, when Trump remarked that immigrants were coming to the U.S. from "shithole" countries, Pascrell invoked a racist character from the 1970s sitcom All in the Family.Pascrell, who was an advocate for veterans who'd suffered brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan, objected to Trump's disrespect for those who'd given their lives for the country.During the pandemic, Pascrell warned that Trump's approach to dealing with Covid-19 could be deadly for Americans.Trump's attorney general, William "Bill" Barr, was a frequent target of Pascrell's wrath: The congressman called him the "worst most corrupt despicable attorney general in U.S. history." So when Barr made claims about the Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots of 2020, Pascrell proved skeptical.In a 2020 debate, when Trump interrupted President Joe Biden while the then-Democratic nominee spoke about the military service of his son Beau Biden, who'd died of cancer five years earlier, Pascrell was unimpressed.Pascrell was an indefatigable critic of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, whom he said had tried to sabotage—that is, slow down—the work of the U.S. Postal Service as a way of helping Trump's elections chances in 2020. (Most mail-in votes were for Democrats.) Pascrell blamed not just DeJoy but also the service's Board of Governors who had appointed the Republican businessman as their head.Pascrell kept beating the drum against DeJoy, unsuccessfully, until he died. (DeJoy is still the postmaster general.) The congressman also regularly used social media as a platform to argue that Republicans posed a threat to democracy.Pascrell, who was the second-oldest member of the House, will likely be replaced by another Democrat, as his district leans solidly blue.

Wednesday marked 320 days since Hersh Goldberg-Polin was taken hostage by Hamas militants. For Hersh’s parents, Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, those days have been marked by “anguish and misery.”

That's according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Osama Hamdan told The AP in an interview Tuesday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally.

Republican Royce White has defeated Joe Fraser in the Minnesota primary election and will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar on the November ballot.

NBC News projects a victory for Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in Minnesota’s 5th District Democratic primary. NBC News’ Vaughn Hillyard reports on the criticism against Omar and other Congressional progressives amid the war in Gaza.

White defeated establishment candidate Joe Fraser by a 9.2 percent margin after receiving many top endorsements from populist Republicans