Politics

An Egyptian American woman in a black hijab kicked off the volunteer meeting, invoking God in Arabic as she stood in front of a handwritten poster that read, “Muslims and Arabs for Bernie.”Volunteers had gathered at a Syrian-Palestinian cafe in Oakland to talk politics over falafel and shakshuka. The few dozen graduate students, tech workers and lawyers strategized on how best to pitch their favorite presidential candidate, a 77-year-old Jewish man raised in Brooklyn.Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders “supports Muslims like no other candidate,” the woman, Rusha Latif of San Jose, explained after the April meeting of the group she founded, Bay Area Muslims for Bernie.The Facebook invitation for the get-together was titled, “Inshallah, Bernie!” — “God willing, Bernie!” Sanders has maintained a fervent following as he campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination and tries to attract key voting blocs such as African Americans and … [Read more...] about Why many Muslims treat Bernie Sanders like a rock star

When Elizabeth Warren first ran for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts in 2012, her opponent mocked her as a Harvard elitist, addressing her in debates as “Professor,” dripping out the syllables so it sounded more like an epithet than an honorific.Warren won anyway, swamping the Republican incumbent, Scott Brown,who had campaigned in a pickup truck.Now, as she runs for president, Warren faces the same arduous political challenge — rushing to portray herself as a prairie populist from homespun roots in Oklahoma before opponents can paint her as an out-of-touch Ivy League academic.On the campaign trail, Warren, 70, rarely mentions her two decades at Harvard Law School, where she was once one of the highest-paid professors. She instead highlights her upbringing in a state known for wide expanses and oil pump jacks, saying she dreamed of becoming a schoolteacher when she lined up her “dollies” and learned the lessons “my momma told me.” “Any … [Read more...] about Elizabeth Warren’s long path from Oklahoma to Harvard

Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Friday that U.S. air defense forces will be sent to Saudi Arabia.“The president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces, which will be defensive in nature,” Esper said at the Pentagon.The announcement is a response to last Saturday’s attack on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which has been blamed on Iran. Saudi officials have said the strike was conducted with explosive drones and cruise missiles, and U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo described it as an “act of war.”Esper said the weapons were “Iranian produced and were not launched from Yemen,” where Iranian-backed militants had originally taken responsibility for it. “All indications are, Iran was responsible for the attack.” Iran has denied launching the attack.President Trump was presented with military options earlier Friday. He has been under pressure from some hawkish Republicans to aggressively respond to Iran, but … [Read more...] about U.S. air defense forces are being deployed to Saudi Arabia

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) was confronted by two combat veterans in the halls of Congress on Thursday who called out the freshman lawmaker over his support for President Donald Trump. Army vets Jason Hurd and Alan Pitts, who work with Common Defense — a progressive veterans group that launched the VetsforImpeachment.com initiative — accused Crenshaw of failing to serve his country by not supporting impeachment charges against Trump. “How can you let a criminal like Donald Trump run roughshod over our democracy and shred everything that you and I fought for?” pleaded Hurd as Crenshaw continued his stroll and mostly avoided engaging with the two men. “How can you just sit there idly by and not do your duty?” “You cannot be complicit in this man’s crimes. It is immoral. How are you going to let him just cosy up to dictators? How are you just going to let him lock kids up in cages?” he added, while also saying the Mueller report lays … [Read more...] about Dan Crenshaw Grilled by Combat Veterans For His Trump Support