Biden to recognize Armenian Genocide

[RandySF]

Breaking on my phone.

[BlueLucy]

1. Ilhan Omar disagrees. nt

[Celerity]

4. so did President Obama, for 8 years

Despite Campaign Vow, Obama Declines to Call Massacre of Armenians ‘Genocide’

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/world/europe/despite-campaign-vow-obama-declines-to-call-massacre-of-armenians-genocide.html

WASHINGTON — President Obama declined on Friday to refer to the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide, breaking a campaign promise as his presidency nears its end.

Mr. Obama, in a statement to mark Armenian Remembrance Day on April 24, called the massacre the first mass atrocity of the 20th century and a tragedy that must not be repeated. Yet he stopped short of using the word genocide, a term he applied to the killings before he became president in 2009. “I have consistently stated my own view of what occurred in 1915, and my view has not changed,” Mr. Obama said.

Armenian-American leaders have urged Mr. Obama each year to keep a pledge he made as a presidential candidate in 2008, when he said the United States government had a responsibility to recognize the attacks as genocide and vowed to do so if elected. Mr. Obama’s failure to fulfill that pledge in his final annual statement on the massacre infuriated advocates and lawmakers who accused the president of outsourcing America’s moral voice to Turkey, which staunchly opposes the genocide label.

“It’s a Turkish government veto over U.S. policy on the Armenian genocide,” Aram Hamparian, head of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in an interview. Referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mr. Hamparian said “it’s like Erdogan imposing a gag rule very publicly and an American president enforcing that gag rule.”

snip

[TheProle]

6. I wouldn't say President Obama disagreed

But it was definitely a disappointment that he walked back his pledge to call it what it was.

[Delarage]

7. Not sure why Obama opposed it

But Omar apparently feels that if we recognize one genocide, we need to recognize all (including that against Native Americans). I sort of get that, but this needed to be done.

[TheProle]

9. President Obama got bogged down in realpolitik

Samantha Power, who served as Obama’s United Nations ambassador and has been nominated by Biden to serve as USAID administrator, and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes both publicly expressed disappointment that Obama didn’t act on the matter. Obama was concerned about straining the relationship with Turkey, a NATO member whose cooperation was needed on military and diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.

Power said in a 2018 interview with Pod Save the World that the administration was “played a little bit” by Erdogan and others invested in delaying a genocide declaration.

https://ktla.com/news/politics/pressure-mounts-for-biden-to-live-up-to-promise-to-recognize-armenian-genocide/

[BlueLucy]

11. Shame on Obama but...

Did he say there was no academic consensus? Ilhan did.

[Celerity]

13. Obama for his entire presidency refused to call it a genocide, despite campaigning

on the issue. Samantha Power (as other posters have put up) said he did not want to get involved with pissing NATO member Turkey off (she disagreed).

Omar clarified (see below) what she meant about consensus and said yes, it was a Genocide. I do think she made a mistake by trying to play political games with it to make a point.

In a House House vote, 2 Democratic members voted present,

Omar and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas (who gave no explanation why she did not vote Yes)

none voted No

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2019591






Omar also said she doesn't disagree with calling it a Genocide, she has other issues

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/468446-omar-comes-under-scrutiny-for-present-vote-on-armenian-genocide

Omar’s office, on Thursday, sought to clarify that the congresswoman was stating she believes there is academic consensus on the fact that the genocide happened, emphasizing that her vote was a protest of the House using the genocide as a “political cudgel.”

[BlueLucy]

14. She voted against sanctions on Turkey also.

She seems to have ties to Erdogan. He donated to her campaign.

[Delarage]

16. Really?

That is not good if true.

[link:

|

[BlueLucy]

19. Erdogan ally.

[Celerity]

17. Erdogan did not donate to her campaign. That is illegal. An American lobbyist who has Turkish

ties to Erdogan (and is his cousin) supposedly did.

All the stories on it originated from Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller, which was the first American outlet to post on it.

The reporter for the Daily Caller was Chuck Ross.

the same bloke:

Daily Caller reporter renounces racist, misogynistic writings

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/09/14/daily-caller-reporter-renounces-racist-misogynistic-writings/

Back in 2010, some blogger wanted to vent about something. “Small towns like the one I’m from in Texas have a fat girl problem. The scent of cheap perfume, sweat, grease … forms a troposphere-like force field surrounding the town that I call ‘that fat girl smell,'” wrote the blogger. At the end of another post, this same fellow concluded, “When given equal opportunity women don’t have the tools to perform as well in business as men.” That’s certainly not the most hateful stuff on the Internet, if only because there’s a lot of competition in this dubious category. What makes it noteworthy, however, is that it’s part of the oeuvre that preceded the blogger’s hiring at Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller, starting in 2014.

Also: The blogger, Chuck Ross, is now renouncing those words and many others. “A lot of the stuff I wrote on my blog and in comments sections on other websites were hare-brained responses to stupid arguments taking place within the tiny community of bloggers I knew at the time,” notes the 36-year-old Ross in a written statement to the Erik Wemple Blog. “I wrote a lot of stuff that I didn’t believe, but I’d write about it for the sake of argument, and sometimes to be provocative or to piss off other bloggers.”

snip

Such proclivities may explain why the Daily Caller first took a liking to Ross, who once wrote on politics, culture, society and other topics for a blog named “Gucci Little Piggy,” an apparent reference to a lyric from the rock band Radiohead. From this platform, Ross came up with some theories. Like this one, in a 2010 post:

Black people walk slow – everywhere. This is especially puzzling since they tend to run so fast. Blacks meander through cross walks in traffic. They jaywalk in front of oncoming vehicles. They do the “Dougie” on two-way streets. Don’t get stuck behind them in a crowded mall or in line somewhere; they’ll walk slow just to go against the grain or force you (white person) to swerve around them. Inevitably, they’ll make fun of you for being a goofy, neurotic white person.

[BlueLucy]

18. There have been credible journalist who have reported on it.

Not just racist nuts. Just because racist nuts pounce on it does not excuse it.

[Celerity]

22. I was not the one to make a false claim. You seem very invested in the whole Omar thing.

The Daily Caller was the original source of the 1500 usd contribution, and even they never claimed what you did (that Erdogan himself contributed to her).

I already said she made a mistake by dragging the resolution 'present' vote into her attempts to make a larger statement. It was very disappointing.

[BlueLucy]

20. Has she ever met with Erdogan?

Are RW nuts lying or is t true? Is there not pictures?

[Delarage]

21. I Googled it.....

Lots of references to it. Deeply disturbing if true---she'd be no better than Trump kissing that murderer-dictator's ass for political reasons.

She'd have to go if it's true.

[link:https://interzine.org/2020/02/26/making-sense-of-ilhan-omars-connection-to-recep-tayyip-erdogan/|

While none of this provides solid evidence that Ilhan Omar is Edrogan’s ‘‘agent’’ or anything of that nature, as some of the overily partisan outlets often claim, it does pose a number of difficult questions for Omar to answer. More than anything, it casts a dubious shadow on all of her previous statements in regards to human rights and ‘universal values’ that should be upheld unconditionally and without any strings attached.

[Celerity]

23. The subject of her meeting with him was not discussed until you just now brought it up.

You are now trying to conflate issues by using a meeting interchangeably as a subject with a false statement (which you did not even acknowwledge was false, btw) you made before.

Done here.

[TheProle]

2. Good

It’s about time.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-says-us-recognising-armenian-genocide-will-further-harm-ties-2021-04-20/

[Delarage]

10. Such a difference now!

Trump kissed Erdogan's ass and abandoned the Kurds (a move that appalled our military). Biden is courageous enough to speak the truth--and fuck that dictator's feelings.

[Celerity]

3. On October 29, 2019, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on a 405-11 vote

to recognize the Armenian genocide. The United States Senate passed the resolution through unanimous vote on December 12, 2019, defying President Donald Trump who opposed recognition.

US Senate defies Trump in unanimous vote to recognize Armenian genocide

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/12/senate-armenian-genocide-vote-trump-turkey

[Delarage]

5. I love Joe!!!

Long overdue! This man gets better and better and better.......



System of a Down is one of my faves:

[link:

|

[Budi]

8. Thank You President Biden. About Time. (*Cenk may have issues with this)

Its a long story going back to the real Young Turks & the Armenian genocide.

I'll watch for a statement from TYT ...
🤨

[Celerity]

12. He has stopped denying it. Here is a 2019 video where he says it happened, and is a historical fact

Video: Cenk Uygur Of The Young Turks, Reaffirms That The Armenian Genocide Is A Historic Fact That Can Not Be Denied

https://armenians-1915.blogspot.com/2019/05/3703-video-cenk-uygur-of-young-turks.html

The video part regarding these revelations begins at 3:35

[Budi]

24. Yup. In 2019 Cenk was running for CA-25 Congress & Chris Cuomo called him out for his past

2019 Election year in CA-25/L.A. may have had something to do with Cenk's sudden change of heart.


"CNN’s Chris Cuomo has grilled Congressional candidate Cenk Uygur of the The Young Turks over his record of Armenian Genocide denial and the naming of his show after The Young Turks, racist mass murderers of millions of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans and other Christians.

On Nov. 14, Uygur officially announced his candidacy for the vacant congressional seat in California’s 25th district, which encompasses parts of northern Los Angeles County."

Uygur, who has never before ran for elected office, is the founder of The Young Turks, an online outlet with over 4.5 million subscribers on YouTube.

As a columnist for The Daily Pennsylvanian in the 1990s, Uygur penned divisive articles on subjects such as his disdain for “radical feminism” and his belief that the Armenian Genocide never occurred. .
********

Cenk Uygur & his show TYT is a repulsive slap to American Democracy.

Cenk, a Republican & multimillionare, suddenly became a Democrat in 2016 & ran his 1st Congressional Seat in CA-25, as a Democrat.

The recognition of the Armenian genocide was more of a political strategy than a sincere & believable mea culpa.

The name of his show, TYT, is from (history) "THE YOUNG TURKS", the actual named group of young renegades who slaughtered the Armenian people.

Cenk should change the name of his show if he was ever being truthful in 2019.

[msfiddlestix]

25. I never knew that reference. Thanks for informing me.

I often wondered what Young Turks actually meant or referenced, but never cared for Cenk or his crew. Never trusted them. I suppose that's why I never bothered researching that reference.

But am I correct in reading that a**hole is running for office in the 25th for 2022? Or wasn't that one for 2020 which he lost (I think I recall correctly) ?

[Budi]

29. He ran in 2020 special election/Katie Hill's seat

Cenk Uygur, a former Daily Pennsylvanian columnist and the creator of the progressive news and opinion outlet The Young Turks, lost his bid for a congressional seat in one of California’s most competitive congressional districts on Tuesday.

Uygur finished fourth out of 12 candidates in the special primary election for former Rep. Katie Hill’s (D-Calif.) seat, earning approximately 5% of the vote, The New York Times reported.
03/05/20

[msfiddlestix]

33. Now I do remember, thanks for that. So like he thinks he can do it again and win apparently. n/t

[Celerity]

26. the video is around half a year before Katie Hill resigned, he was wasn't running for anything then

It may even be older, as that is not a posting by the channel itself.

I personally do not care for him at all, but I am a stickler for facts.

May 18, 2019

[Budi]

30. That interview with Chris Cuomo was from 2019.

He was running for Hill's 2020 seat.

Sorry but there is nothing credible about Cenk.
His history of where he lands politically is as questionable as it is repulsive, on femnist issues.

[Celerity]

32. Yes, but he already (before he ran for anything) had said that the Armenian Genocide

was real, he had stopped questioning it. It was close to 6 months before Katie Hill resigned.

I am not defending him overall, just stating a factual linear timeline.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[GulfCoast66]

15. Joe has surprised even me who wanted him before he declared his candidacy!

Remember, he came into a Democratic Party still full of FDR Democrats. Maybe not great on social issues but proudly for government helping the people. That’s the party he grew up in.

I think at 78 he has gotten sick of watching democrats shying away from being the democrat he grew up as. And is out of fucks to give.

And it’s working. Republicans are baffled. They realize attacking him for supporting government programs like infrastructure and such are no longer working. The public has turned. So all they have is Abortion, black peoples, Mexicans, gays and god. It may work. But I would not bet on it.

[msfiddlestix]

27. Joe has stunned me and a whole lot of others. Happily Stunned. Joyously Stunned.

Over the Moon kind of Stunned. I'm really beyond astonished actually. I keep feeling like I need to pinch myself to remind me this is real. Joe Biden is probably the best president in my lifetime, and I'm an old lady. Like over 70.. That's kind of getting old.

[GulfCoast66]

28. Haven't you heard? 70 is the new middle aged!

My 60 year old wife says she’s still young!

I’m feeling my age a little more. But can still spend a full day fishing hard on the boat.

I think Joe realizes the moment. The Know Nothing Party quickly burnt out 180 years ago. That’s where republicans are now. Still dangerous. But dying. Most Americans now support our government helping we the people.

But the nativist argument is still very dangerous.

[msfiddlestix]

34. And I'm still playing my fiddle like there's no tomorrow

jamming on zoom, well sort of. Soon back to playing knee to knee in person. Counting down, going to happen soon.

But yes, you're right about that party that's turned into a full blown cult of grifters, racists liars, and con artists, not to mention a bunch socio-psychopaths if that's a term. Wish they'd croak sooner.

How about if the freaking DOJ locks them all up or at least get's on with the prosecutions, that would help to some measure.

[LeftInTX]

31. We'll see. Will be very exciting if he does!

Been burned numerous times on this issue. If he does, all the Armenians will now vote Democratic!