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Tag: Rashida Tlaib

  • Immigrant dies at Michigan ICE detention center as questions linger over conditions – Detroit Metro Times

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    A 56-year-old immigrant died this week at a newly opened federal immigration detention facility in northern Michigan, raising new questions about transparency and conditions inside one of the largest detention centers in the Midwest.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday notified members of Congress that Nenko Stanev Gantchev, a citizen of Bulgaria, died Monday at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin. The facility reopened in June as an immigration detention center after years of operating as a private prison.

    “The official cause of death remains under investigation but is suspected to be from natural causes,” an ICE official wrote in an email to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit.

    Tlaib visited the North Lake facility on Dec. 5 after receiving complaints from families and advocates about conditions inside the center. She says she had heard rumors of a tuberculosis outbreak and possible deaths but had not received confirmation from ICE at the time.

    “There was a lot of fear from family members,” Tlaib tells Metro Times. “ICE should be able to respond quickly and address the fear that somebody died under their care.” 

    Kevin Hughes, health officer for District Health Department #10, which serves Lake County, said his office had not been notified of any death or communicable disease outbreak at the facility.

    “The only thing they would have to report to us is a communicable disease,” Hughes says. “We have not heard anything about a death.”

    Hughes confirms that some detainees were tested for tuberculosis and isolated while awaiting results but said there was no indication of an outbreak.

    “We know they tested some people for TB, and they isolated them during testing, and no one said there was an outbreak,” he says.

    ICE declined to respond to questions from Metro Times, including whether there have been any other deaths at the facility or whether any communicable disease outbreaks have occurred.

    Gantchev’s death comes amid growing scrutiny of medical care and transparency in immigration detention facilities nationwide. According to data tracked by advocacy groups, dozens of people have died in ICE custody over the past decade, with watchdogs repeatedly citing delays in medical treatment, inadequate staffing, and limited oversight as contributing factors. Federal officials have often attributed those deaths to natural causes while investigations remain pending.

    Advocates fear deaths are on the rise as the Trump administration fills detention centers with undocumented immigrants at unprecedented rates. 

    North Lake Processing Center is a privately owned facility operated by the GEO Group. Originally built in 1999, the prison has housed Michigan youth offenders, out-of-state prisoners, and non-citizen federal inmates before closing in 2022 when the federal government canceled contracts with private prisons. It reopened on June 16 as an ICE processing center and can hold up to 1,800 detainees, making it one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the country. 

    Civil rights groups warned about the reopening months before detainees began arriving.

    “The re-opening of this massive detention center is a major threat to our immigrant friends and neighbors throughout Michigan and the Midwest,” ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Loren Khogali said in June, citing GEO Group’s “documented history of neglecting and abusing the people it detains and employs.”

    The ACLU raised concerns about medical neglect, access to attorneys, and due process, noting that detainees at the facility previously organized multiple hunger strikes demanding medical care and better conditions.

    Tlaib echoed those concerns following her visit earlier this month, writing on X that oversight of ICE was “critical right now” and that more than 1,400 people were being detained at North Lake, including a teenager. 

    In a video accompanying the post, Tlaib said, “We’re going to hold them accountable. We’re going to make sure the conditions are safe, and that everyone’s rights are protected.”

    The Department of Homeland Security responded to Tlaib’s visit with a sharply worded statement attacking her and other lawmakers who conduct oversight of detention facilities.

    “When radical members of Congress like Rashida Tlaib visit ICE facilities, they never talk about the monsters that are detained,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, accusing Tlaib of spreading “FALSE allegations” and blaming criticism of ICE for an increase in assaults on officers.

    But DHS’ predictably hyperbolic statement omitted the fact that most Michigan residents detained by ICE have no criminal record, as Metro Times reported in September. 

    Local health officials say their role is limited and that ICE is only required to notify them of certain conditions.

    “If the death was due to a reportable communicable disease, we would have been notified,” Hughes says.

    As of Thursday, ICE had not publicly released additional details about Gantchev’s death or explained why Congress and local officials were notified days later, only after Tlaib sought answers.


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    Steve Neavling

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  • Detroit backs federal push to boost musicians’ pay on streaming platforms – Detroit Metro Times

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    The Detroit City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Living Wage for Musicians Act, a federal proposal introduced by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat, to overhaul the way artists are paid for digital streams.

    Detroit is the latest major city to formally endorse the legislation. In May, New York City passed a similar resolution.

    Today, streaming accounts for roughly 84% of all recorded music revenue in the U.S., but artists often earn just fractions of a cent per play, sometimes as little as $0.003 per stream. At that rate, a musician needs more than 800,000 monthly streams to earn the equivalent of a full-time, $15-an-hour job, according to Detroit’s resolution.

    Supporters urged the council to join the push for higher streaming royalties, pointing to Detroit’s major influence on music. 

    Marcus Miller, co-founder of the Creative Union, a group that supports artists, innovators, and entrepreneurs, told council members that the legislation could help Detroit’s creative workforce stay in the city.

    “With bills like this, we have the opportunity to keep our talent here for the future and actually make a change, so I’m just inspired,” Miller said. “We honestly can do anything. It’s the most important thing in the world that with every step forward, we make every step together because that’s the only way we’re going to make a difference — through our voice, our shared efforts, through knowing that the only real change comes from the people, for the people, and by the people. And we will see this through.”

    Adrian Tonon, co-founder of the Creative Union and Detroit’s former 24-hour economy ambassador, says artists and organizers plan to travel to Washington, D.C., to advocate for the bill.

    Tlaib reintroduced the legislation in September with support from working musicians and the United Musicians and Allied Workers union. The bill would create a new royalty stream paid directly to artists, separate from the industry’s existing pro-rata system that often funnels most streaming revenue to the biggest acts and major labels.

    Under the proposal, a small surcharge would be added to streaming subscriptions — capped between $4 and $10 — and platforms would contribute a share of their advertising revenue. The money would go into a nonprofit Artist Compensation Royalty Fund, which would distribute payments directly to recording musicians. The fund would also include a monthly cap per track so that artists with massive hits don’t absorb a disproportionate share of the payouts.

    Tlaib has said the goal is to ensure that musicians who drive the streaming economy can afford to build sustainable careers.

    “It’s only right that the people who create the music we love are paid a living wage, so that they can thrive, not just survive,” she said when announcing the bill’s reintroduction last year.

    Artists, including Detroit producer and WDET host Shigeto, have backed the plan, calling it a long-overdue correction to a system that has left many musicians struggling as streaming platforms report record profits.

    Advocates say the bill would allow more artists to record, tour, and make themselves available to fans, while helping musicians make a living in cities like Detroit. 


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    Steve Neavling

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  • Michigan lawmakers introduce resolutions urging Congress to block arms to Israel and aid Gaza – Detroit Metro Times

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    Michigan House Democrats are calling on Congress to halt weapons transfers to Israel and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, pointing to the increasing civilian death toll and the impact the war has had on Palestinian families in the state.

    Reps. Dylan Wegela of Garden City, Alabas Farhat of Dearborn, and Erin Byrnes of Dearborn on Wednesday introduced House Resolution 223, which urges Michigan’s congressional delegation to stop sending U.S. arms to Israel, restore revoked visas for Palestinians seeking medical travel, and support an emergency surge of humanitarian assistance.

    “For more than two years, the world has watched a livestreamed genocide,” Wegela said. “Even after repeated ceasefire deals, Israel continues their escalation of their campaign to eliminate the Palestinian people. What makes that possible is American-supplied weapons.”

    The resolution was co-sponsored by 10 other Democrats: Emily Dievendorf of Lansing, Mike McFall of Hazel Park, Jimmie Wilson Jr. of Ypsilanti, Donavan McKinney of Detroit, Reggie Miller of Van Buren Township, Laurie Pohutsky of Livonia, Tonya Myers-Phillips of Detroit, Tyrone Carter of Detroit, Betsy Coffia of Traverse City, Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor, and Tullio Liberati of Allen Park. 

    The resolution comes after more than two years of Israeli airstrikes, ground operations, and a blockade that international aid groups say has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 2023, according to Gaza health officials, and most of the dead are women and children. UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and the United Nations have warned that widespread hunger, medical shortages, and the destruction of hospitals have left the population facing mass starvation. 

    Michigan’s large Arab American population, including the country’s highest concentration of residents with Lebanese and Palestinian heritage, has watched the war with grief and panic as relatives in Gaza and southern Lebanon have been killed or displaced. Dearborn, where Farhat and Byrnes represent major sections of the city, has held regular demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and an end to U.S. military support.

    “For many families in my district, this is not abstract, people are losing loved ones in Gaza and in South Lebanon, and they’re watching it happen with their own taxpayer dollars,” Farhat said. “Imagine knowing that your hard earned money is being used to kill your relatives. This resolution reflects our community’s moral and democratic mandate: stop funding weapons that are killing civilians. Our communities want peace, accountability, and policy that values human life and this resolution moves us in that direction.”

    Farhat also pointed to polls that have “clearly shown that most Americans want our government to stop fueling the suffering in Gaza and to take real steps toward ending this war.”

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech in Dearborn in February, 2024, urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the presidential primary election to protest President Joe Biden’s support of Israel. Credit: Shutterstock

    Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants and is the only Palestinian American member of Congress, introduced a resolution Friday that “officially recognizes that the Israeli government has committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” The resolution also urges the U.S. to fulfill its obligations under the Genocide Convention to intervene and seek accountability.  

    “The Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza has not ended, and it will not end until we act,” Tlaib, D-Detroit, said. “Since the so-called ‘ceasefire’ was announced, Israeli forces haven’t stopped killing Palestinians. Impunity only enables more atrocity. As our government continues to send a blank check for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Palestinian children’s smiles are extinguished by bombs and bullets that say made in the U.S.A. To end this horror, we must reject genocide denial and follow our binding legal obligations under the Genocide Convention to take immediate action to pursue justice and accountability to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.”

    Michigan taxpayers have contributed more than $420 million toward U.S. military aid to Israel since 2023, Wegela said, noting the money could instead fund rent assistance, groceries for low-income households, teacher salaries, children’s health care, or student loan relief. 

    “Instead of using tax dollars to help improve lives here, our federal government is funding a Genocide on the other side of the world. It is our moral obligation to oppose funding the mass murder of civilians,” Wegela said.

    Byrnes condemned the high civilian casualty rate in Gaza, which is estimated to be roughly 83% of those killed, and criticized Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s move to suspend medical visas for Palestinians injured in the conflict. 

    “Michigan cannot remain silent while our tax dollars are used to fund genocide,” Byrnes said.

    The resolution also points to growing documentation from humanitarian groups and international law experts alleging that Israel’s blockade, bombing campaign, and forced displacement of civilians may violate the Genocide Convention. 

    Michigan organizers praised the lawmakers’ resolution. Layla Elabed, a well-known community organizer from Dearborn and sister of Tlaib, said the resolution represents “a multifaith, multicultural, multigenerational coalition refusing to let Michigan be complicit in genocide.”

    Barbara Weinberg Barefield of Jewish Voice for Peace–Detroit said the suffering in Gaza contradicts the core Jewish teaching that “whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the whole world.”

    “The fact that a genocide is being perpetrated by the government of Israel on the Palestinian people is horrifying to me as a human being and as a Jew who was taught the intrinsic value of every life,” she said. “I will not stand by and let thousands of lives extinguished in my name go unchallenged.”

    The resolution is nonbinding but adds pressure to Michigan members of Congress, several of whom have faced protests over U.S. military aid. It cites longstanding federal laws prohibiting arms transfers to countries committing human rights violations and calls on Washington to “use every tool available” to stop the killing and ensure aid reaches civilians.

    Wegela, Farhat, and Byrnes said they plan to continue working with local advocacy groups, including those representing Palestinian, Arab American, Jewish, and peace coalitions, as the measure moves through the House.


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    Steve Neavling

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  • Tlaib re-introduces the Living Wage for Musicians Act – Detroit Metro Times

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib says musicians deserve their fair share.

    On Monday, the Congresswoman re-introduced her Living Wage for Musicians Act. Created with the input of working artists and the United Musicians and Allied Workers union, the legislation calls for major reforms in the music industry including paying musicians more for digital streams, which has become the dominate form of music consumption but currently pays out only fractions of cents per stream.

    “Detroit is one of the music capitals of the world, and our artists here have changed the music industry and our culture in so many incredible ways,” Tlaib said in a statement. “Musicians make tiny fractions of a penny per stream, yet platforms like Spotify made over $1.3 billion in profits in 2024. It’s only right that the people who create the music we love are paid a living wage, so that they can thrive, not just survive.”

    According to Tlaib’s office, digital streaming now represents 84% of all recorded music industry revenue in the U.S. But the current model means artists need more than 800,000 monthly streams to equate to a full-time job with a wage of $15 per hour.

    The legislation was celebrated by artists including Shigeto, a Detroit artist, producer, and WDET radio host. 

    “I’m very grateful for Rashida’s work to bring overdue changes to the music industry that restore equity and a sense of value for musicians all over,” Shigeto. “Artists have been taken advantage of since the inception of digital streaming. The Living Wage for Musicians Act gives voice to independent musicians and could potentially change a lot of artists’ lives by giving them a sustainable revenue stream.”

    The legislation proposes taxing digital streaming providers’ non-subscription revenues and adding a small fee to the price of music streaming subscriptions. These funds would be collected and used to pay artists a higher royalty rate.

    According to Tlaib’s office, “By creating a fund that directly compensates recording artists and musicians, the bill will allow vastly more artists to achieve a living wage from music, enabling them to pay rent, raise a family, buy a home, and invest in their future.” 

    It adds, “The additional income musicians receive will allow them to professionally record more music, tour more extensively, create more merchandise, and make themselves more available to fans. The bill raises the standard of living for these workers which will reverberate beyond just the music industry by injecting more money into our local economies.” 

    The legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver (New Jersey), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), Ilhan Omar Minnesota), Delia Ramirez (Illinois), and Bennie Thompson (Mississippi).

    Tlaib first introduced the  Living Wage for Musicians Act in 2024.


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    Lee DeVito

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  • U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar: Why I can’t call Charlie Kirk a hero – Detroit Metro Times

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    Political violence should never be tolerated. In America, we need to settle our differences at the ballot box, through civic action, not violence.

    As a father, I lost my wife to mental illness when my sons were 4 and 8. I can empathize with the family of Charlie Kirk, a conservative political activist who was fatally shot on Sept. 10 during an event in Utah. No child should have to experience the pain of losing a parent, especially at such a young age.

    However, empathy is not celebration, and I do not have to call Charlie Kirk a hero. I represent Detroit, the Blackest major city in the country. Given Kirk’s history of disparaging remarks towards Black Americans, I could not vote yes on H.Res. 719.

    Charlie Kirk was obsessed with affirmative action and DEI. He not only questioned the qualifications of Black Americans, but he also implied that there was no chance Black Americans could possibly be qualified for the positions they held.

    He built much of his brand attacking affirmative action and diversity programs — not debating the policy in good faith, but ridiculing Black achievement itself. That mentality is deeply problematic, troubling, and comes from a place of ignorance and racism.

    On one of his podcasts, Kirk brought up four talented, trailblazing Black American women — Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. He said of them, “You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.” No, they did not “steal a white person’s slot.” They earned every accolade through their talent and relentless hard work.

    In another podcast, Kirk said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’” Why anyone thinks this comment is acceptable is beyond me. When I, and most people, see a Black pilot, we don’t think twice about it at all. We take our seats and enjoy the flight. Clearly, this was not the case for Kirk. He singled out Black professionals for suspicion because of the color of their skin. That is not candor. That is racism.

    Regardless of how anyone feels about affirmative action or diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, those comments are deeply offensive and unacceptable. Black Americans have faced centuries-old structures of institutional racism. Policies like affirmative action were implemented to address the biases that persist in our society today. To act, as Kirk did, that these policies meant Black Americans were not qualified, or did not earn their positions, is a slap in the face to my constituents.

    This pattern — questioning Black intelligence, denying Black merit — runs through his years of commentary. Furthermore, it does not even touch on his other anti-immigrant, xenophobic, divisive views that did nothing but stoke the flames of the culture war.

    Charlie Kirk often said his favorite word was “earned.” In my opinion, a hero is someone who fights for everyone, including those who have been historically left behind. For white, conservative Christians, Kirk was their biggest champion. For the rest of us, it feels like Kirk was constantly putting us down and demeaning us. He did not earn a hero’s recognition.

    Congressman Shri Thanedar represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District, which includes Detroit, Downriver, and the Grosse Pointes.

    U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Detroit Democrat, introduced articles of…



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    Shri Thanedar

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  • Only 2 Michigan Democrats vote against legislation calling Charlie Kirk a hero – Detroit Metro Times

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    House Republicans forced Democrats into an awkward vote Friday by pushing through a resolution that hailed conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk as a champion of “unity” and “respectful, civil discourse,” despite his record of racist, misogynistic, and homophobic rhetoric. 

    The measure passed 310-58 with support from nearly 100 Democrats. It condemns political violence and eulogizes Kirk, who was fatally shot at an outdoor rally in Utah on Sept. 10, as a “courageous American patriot” who “worked tirelessly to promote unity without compromising on conviction.”

    Only two of the six Democrats in the Michigan delegation — Reps. Shri Thanedar and Rashida Tlaib, both of Detroit — voted no. The state’s other four Democratic representatives, Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor, Hillary Scholten of Grand Rapids, Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City, and Haley Stevens of Birmingham, supported the resolution. 

    Stevens is running for U.S. Senate and was recently endorsed by the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus. 

    In a statement, Dingell said she “vehemently” opposes Kirk’s “ideology, beliefs, and views, which were often divisive and cruel — but I voted in support of this resolution because his horrific killing, and this volatile time require all of us to reject violence, hate, and anger without hesitation.”

    Thanedar said honoring Kirk crossed a line. 

    “Empathy is not a celebration, and I will not call Charlie Kirk a hero,” he wrote on X after the vote. “I represent Detroit, the Blackest major city in the country. Given Kirk’s history of disparaging remarks towards Black Americans, I could not vote yes on House Resolution 719.”

    In written remarks shared with Metro Times, Thanedar said he mourned with Kirk’s family and opposed political violence, but could not endorse a resolution that whitewashed Kirk’s record of disparaging Black achievement. 

    “Charlie Kirk was obsessed with affirmative action and DEI,” Thanedar wrote. “He not only questioned the qualifications of Black Americans, but he also implied that there was no chance Black Americans could possibly be qualified for the positions they held. … This pattern — questioning Black intelligence, denying Black merit — runs through his years of commentary.”

    Tlaib’s office has yet to release a statement regarding her vote.

    Kirk built much of his brand by tearing down affirmative action, diversity programs, and civil rights gains, often with language that critics called outright racist. He railed against affirmative action and diversity initiatives, disparaged Martin Luther King Jr., and even described the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a “huge mistake.”

    On one podcast, Kirk singled out four prominent Black women — Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee — and declared, “You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”

    In another broadcast, Kirk said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”

    Kirk was also a crusader in the culture wars around gender and sexuality. He derided women in leadership as “diversity hires” and frequently attacked LGBTQ+ people, dismissing same-sex marriage as illegitimate and promoting the “groomer” slur against gay teachers. He championed anti-trans legislation across statehouses and condemned immigrants, espousing the Great Replacement conspiracy theory which promotes the idea of ethnic cleansing of white Americans.

    On Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus condemned Kirk’s assassination while rejecting the resolution as a political ploy. 

    “It is, unfortunately, an attempt to legitimize Kirk’s worldview — a worldview that includes ideas many Americans find racist, harmful, and fundamentally un-American,” the caucus said.

    For Thanedar, who represents a majority-Black district, the issue was personal as well as political. 

    “A hero is someone who fights for everyone, including those who have been historically left behind,” he wrote. “For white, conservative Christians, Kirk was their biggest champion. For the rest of us, it feels like Kirk was constantly putting us down and demeaning us. He did not earn a hero’s recognition.”


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    Steve Neavling

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  • Rashida Tlaib and Bernie Sanders introduce the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act

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    CEO pay is out of control, with the possibility of Tesla executive Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire. Meanwhile, prospects for average workers have dimmed with decades of stagnated wages and a majority of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. 

    On Monday, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act to rein in what they call the “obscene salaries of America’s top executives.” 

    House Resolution H.R. 5298 proposes taxing corporations at a higher rate if they pay their executives more than 50 times what their workers earn. If passed, Tesla would be forced to pay up to $100 billion more in taxes over the next decade if Musk’s massive pay package is approved.

    “Working people are sick and tired of corporate greed. CEOs are now making 290 times more than their average worker,” Tlaib said in a statement. “It’s disgraceful that corporations continue to rake in record profits by exploiting the labor of their workers. Every worker deserves a living wage and human dignity on the job. I’m proud to re-introduce the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act with Senator Bernie Sanders to address the massive income and wealth inequality in our nation. It’s time to make the rich pay their fair share.”

    The Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act was first introduced by Sen. Sanders in 2019, with different versions re-introduced since then. 

    Meanwhile, the wealth of the top 1% has continued to explode, hitting a record-setting $44 trillion in 2024.

    “We can no longer tolerate a rigged economy that enables the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, to become the first trillionaire while 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and millions work longer hours for lower wages,” said Senator Sanders. “It is unacceptable that the CEOs of the largest low-wage corporations make more than 630 times what their average workers make. This is not only morally obscene, but also insane economic policy. No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class is unable to afford basic necessities. At a time of record-breaking income and wealth inequality, we must demand that the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America finally pay their fair share of taxes and treat all employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. That’s precisely what this legislation begins to do.”

    In a statement, Tlaib and Sanders note that in the 1970s, CEOs of successful firms only made 20-30 times more than their workers. 

    In 2024, top CEOs made 290 times more than the average pay of their typical workers, including at Walmart ($27.4 million, or 930 times more), JPMorgan Chase ($37.7 million, or 348 times more), Home Depot ($15.6 million, or 443 times more), and Coca-Cola ($28 million, or 1,980 more).

    Last year, the CEO of Starbucks made $95.8 million in 2024, or 6,666 more than the company’s workers.

    Tlaib and Sanders say the legislation would have raised billions more in taxes if it was in effect in 2024, and if firms raised median worker pay to $60,000 and capped CEO pay at $3 million, they would not owe any additional taxes.

    The legislation also calls for the Treasury Department to crack down on corporate tax avoidance schemes.

    A 2024 poll found a staggering 83% of Americans believe income inequality between CEOs and workers is a problem, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.


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    Lee DeVito

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  • Opinion: Stop price gouging in grocery stores

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    Corporate greed drives up costs. Recently, corporations have begun using technology to raise prices in new ways and without your knowledge. Why should big grocery store chains be allowed to use facial recognition technology, digital price tags, and our personal information to price gouge?

    Our families are already struggling to cover the costs of groceries. They are paying 28 percent more at the grocery store. According to the latest data, more than 47 million Americans are food-insecure, including more than 7 million children.

    We have seen corporations use crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events to raise prices. When families are struggling more due to no fault of their own, they use that desperation to jack up prices.

    I still remember the CEO of Pepsi saying that people are already “getting used to new price levels” in response to whether or not price increases during the pandemic will be adjusted.

    When prices go up and supplies are disrupted across the entire economy, big corporations feel comfortable raising prices since they know their competitors are likely doing the same. These companies hope that their price gouging will get lost in the “noise” created by this volatility.

    The use of Big Tech makes raising prices even easier. Grocery stores like Kroger are replacing price stickers with electronic labeling, leading to concerns about surge pricing. Electronic shelf labels allow stores to change prices in seconds. “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst. But it’s not just the next heatwave that should worry you.

    We all know that companies already collect and purchase a massive amount of information about us, from our purchase history to online behavior or location. These individualized consumer profiles, paired with technology like mobile apps, online shopping, electronic shelf labels in grocery stores, and cameras with facial recognition technology, allow companies to charge different people different prices for the same item. This is called surveillance pricing.

    Imagine if your grocery store charged you a higher price for an item because it used an algorithm based on your personal data and determined that you were willing to pay more than the next person. It might sound unbelievable, but it’s a serious threat. For instance, Target charged consumers using its app higher prices when they entered the store or even just the parking lot, on the assumption that the consumer was already committed to the purchase and less likely to go elsewhere.

    I’m introducing the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act to end this madness. My bill directs the Federal Trade Commission to enforce a ban on price gouging by grocery stores, ensuring that corporate greed is not an obstacle to families accessing the food they need. In addition, it prohibits the “personalized price gouging” by grocery stores enabled by surveillance pricing.

    The Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act I am co-leading with U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) prohibits all companies from using surveillance data to raise prices or lower wages.

    Of course, this legislation is only the start. President Donald Trump’s cruel cuts to food assistance need to be reversed immediately, workers should be earning more than starvation wages, and corporations should not have the unfettered power to set prices.

    Congress must prioritize the needs of working families over enriching billionaires and fueling corporate greed. We must put people over profits.

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    Rashida Tlaib

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  • Southeast Michigan residents are trapped in Lebanon

    Southeast Michigan residents are trapped in Lebanon

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    Hezbollah fighters, dressed in military uniform in Lebanon, carry a coffin wrapped in a yellow flag, mourning a fallen comrade from battles with Israel.

    Arab American groups are pressing the federal government to take stronger actions to rescue American citizens, including many from southeast Michigan, who are stuck in Lebanon as Israel’s military offensive escalates.

    The situation is especially urgent in Wayne County, which has the largest population of Arab Americans and Lebanese Americans in the U.S.

    On Thursday, the Dearborn-based Arab-American Civil Rights League filed a federal lawsuit against top officials from the defense and state departments, alleging the government has failed to adequately evacuate U.S. citizens and green card holders stuck in Lebanon.

    The class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of four U.S. citizens and one green card-holding permanent resident currently stranded in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut. They are “under imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury,” the lawsuit states.

    One of the plaintiffs withdrew from the suit after the family successfully secured airline tickets, Mariam E. Charara, executive director of the Arab American Civil Rights League, said Friday.

    At least 6,000 Americans stranded in Lebanon have contacted the U.S. embassy for information and help, according to the Department of State. It’s unclear how many of them are from Michigan, but U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib told Metro Times on Friday that at least 148 live in her district, which covers sections of Detroit, Dearborn, western Wayne County, and portions of Oakland County.

    Israeli bombs have already claimed the lives of three American citizens from Dearborn, with many others still in danger as the violence intensifies, according to Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

    “American citizens in Lebanon are facing dire circumstances, and the need for an immediate evacuation plan cannot be overstated,” said Abed Ayoub. “The lives of American citizens are in danger, and our government must act swiftly and decisively, as it has done in the past.”

    State Representative Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, joined Ayoub and Chris Habiby, government affairs director of ADC, for a meeting Thursday with senior government officials at the White House to urge officials to show more urgency.

    “Every moment that passes by without evacuation flights further endangers the lives of Americans,” Farhat said. “The United States has an obligation to protect its citizens and must do everything possible to bring them home. Families in my district are already grieving the loss of loved ones killed by Israeli bombs. This administration must act now.”

    Nine days after Israel began its offensive in Lebanon, President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Wednesday that it had contracted its first flight to evacuate U.S. citizens from Beirut to Istanbul.

    But activists say the Biden administration isn’t acting with enough urgency.

    “The Biden administration must take immediate steps to protect American citizens and assist the innocent civilians fleeing violence in Lebanon,” Ayoub said. “Failure to act now risks both lives and the integrity of the U.S. response to this crisis.”

    On Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on federal officials to “do more” to rescue U.S. citizens trapped in Lebanon.

    “We are already hearing reports of confirmed deaths and fear there will be more,” Whitmer wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “We cannot stand by while our constituents and their families are suffering.”

    In an emotional video posted recently on Instagram, Tlaib spoke about the families, including a U.S. military veteran, who are stuck in Lebanon.

    “For my team and I to break down and yell and scream for our own government to save them is a disgrace,” Tlaib said. “We need to do better. We knew this was coming, and we had no plan to get Americans out.”

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    Steve Neavling

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  • Lapointe: Is WJR radio trying to shed its right-wing bias?

    Lapointe: Is WJR radio trying to shed its right-wing bias?

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    Until this month, Tom Jordan co-hosted the morning All Talk show on Detroit’s WJR (760-AM), a “heritage news-talk” radio station broadcast from Detroit’s New Center and, for more than a century, a powerful voice of the Motor City.

    But that prestigious, 50,000-watt, clear-channel signal no longer broadcasts the voice of Jordan, he says, because he was “blacklisted” by progressive politicians who refused to appear on his biased program. Seems like this talker talked himself out of a talking job.

    “It went up as high as the White House,” Jordan said on Friday during his new podcast on the internet. “. . . We tried to get the surrogates on for Kamala Harris . . . They wouldn’t come on because certain conservative hosts like myself were being blacklisted because we weren’t Democrat-friendly enough.”

    His podcast Tom Jordan Talks appears on weekdays on Wayne Radio at 9 a.m. Curiously, that’s when WJR carries All Talk with Kevin Dietz, formerly Jordan’s sidekick for almost three years. On a different podcast with Tudor Dixon, Jordan said more about WJR.

    “In the past few months, I was specifically told, specifically, that ‘We’re going to change the way we do things,’” (at WJR) Jordan told Dixon, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for governor in 2022.

    Jordan did not name anyone, specifically, who told him of the policy change at WJR. Despite multiple requests, there was no response or comment last week from the station’s program director Ann Thomas, a longtime WJR hand who was promoted to that job 14 months ago.

    Jordan said WJR told him not to share his opinions throughout the majority of the show and to let others speak even when he disagreed with them. During his stint at WJR, Jordan had a tendency to dispute progressive guests and callers by talking over them and cutting them off, sometimes with lies.

    “So, I was specifically told, ‘We want to have continued access to these people,’” Jordan said to Dixon. “And they specifically told me that ‘We no longer want to be considered a conservative talk-radio station. We’re trying to shed that label.’”

    Despite its prestige and powerful signal, WJR has lost clout in the media market, as have legacy media brands like daily newspapers. The most recent Nielsen ratings (for August) show WJR ranked 16th in the Detroit market with a 2.7 share of listeners. (The leader at 8.5 is 97.1 FM “The Ticket,” a sports station).

    The leader among AM stations is WWJ (950-AM), where Jordan worked as a newscaster before WJR and became disenchanted, he said, with what he calls leftist media bias. Primarily a news station, with some sports, WWJ places ninth in the overall market at 5.4, double the audience of WJR.

    For the most part, Jordan’s knee-jerk opinions on WJR were simplistic boiler-plate talking points from the MAGA script.

    For instance: Former President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump did not really inspire the January 6 lynch mob; abortion is murder and women have no right to choose it; Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is a liberal-socialist-Communist-Marxist; most of the news media is corrupt and practicing propaganda over journalism; Trump won’t implement the sinister and radical “2025 project” of his boosters because he says he has nothing to do with it; the Justice Department has been “weaponized” for “lawfare;” so-called “critical race theory” is racism in reverse for both whites and Blacks; marijuana is addictive and might make you psychotic; and the FBI is targeting Bible shoppers.

    With a clear “tuxedo voice,” practiced cadence, and professional delivery, Jordan is a master blender of sweeping generalizations, counterfactual reasoning, straw-man arguments, and bad-faith debate.

    Let’s hear Tom, now, for a sample.

    “The Democratic, far-left, liberal tentacles have reached deep within the media and within the government and within the corporate world as well,” Jordan said on his podcast Friday.

    Kooky as some of his opinions are, few are as malignant as those of Mark Levin, a syndicated talk-show screecher who continues to pollute WJR’s air on many weeknights for three hours, starting at 8 p.m.

    Among Levin’s favorite targets are Arabs and Muslims, especially around Detroit. For instance: Levin calls Dearborn “Dearborn-istan.”

    On this topic, Jordan’s words rivaled Levin’s last October when Jordan attacked U.S. Rep. Rashida Talib of Michigan following the Hamas terrorism from Gaza into Israel. That violence killed 1,200 persons; hundreds were wounded or kidnapped.

    Tlaib is the only Palestinian American in Congress; her district includes parts of Dearborn; outside her office on display was a Palestinian flag.

    “She supports, it seems, Hamas, a terrorist regime,” Jordan said of Tlaib last October. “She’s denouncing Israel. That’s absolutely un-American. She is a terrorist sympathizer at this point. She sympathizes with Hamas.”

    Jordan added at that time that Tlaib also “probably sympathizes” with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

    “She should be gone,” Jordan said of Tlaib. We must assume Jordan meant “gone” as in “voted out of Congress” and not something more menacing. And now it is Jordan who is “gone” from his former role, but still a voice in the podcast wilderness.

    Although Jordan never quotes the Koran, he sometimes quotes Bible verses off the top of his head to make points. In fact, in signing off his podcast on Friday, Jordan invited his audience to join him on Sunday at a Christian church in Waterford, north of Detroit, where he is a pastor and preacher. In this way, he’s still all talk.

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    Joe Lapointe

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  • Detroit News reporter blasted for ‘racist’ Tlaib cartoon

    Detroit News reporter blasted for ‘racist’ Tlaib cartoon

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    A Detroit News auto industry reporter who moonlights as a political cartoonist is being criticized for appearing to imply that U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib is a member of Hezbollah, which critics have labeled as “racist,” “xenophobic,” “vile,” and “disgusting.”

    The illustration depicts Tlaib at her desk next to the charred remains of an electronic device with a thought balloon reading, “Odd, my pager just exploded.” The cartoon is a reference to a recent attack against the Lebanese organization Hezbollah that is believed to have been orchestrated by Israel, in which beepers and walkie-talkies were modified to act as remote-controlled explosives. The bombs injured thousands and killed dozens, including at least two children, and could be a violation of international law, which prohibits the use of booby traps.

    “This racism will incite more hate and violence against Arab and Muslim communities and it makes everyone less safe,” Congresswoman Tlaib tells Metro Times in a statement. “It’s disgraceful that the media continues to normalize this racism against our communities.”

    The cartoon’s author is Henry Payne, who works on the Detroit News staff as an auto critic. When asked for comment, the Detroit News said the comic did not appear in its pages and noted it has not run Payne’s comics for years, though Payne signs his work using his @detroitnews.com email address. Payne’s political cartoons are nationally syndicated by Andrews McMeel Syndication.

    Payne and Andrews McMeel Syndication did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

    The Tlaib cartoon was picked up by the conservative magazine National Review, and from there it circulated on the social media platform X. Other elected officials representing the Detroit area’s Arab and Muslim communities echoed Tlaib’s disapproval of the cartoon.

    “Absolutely disgusting. Anti-Arab bigotry & Islamophobia have become normalized in our media,” Dearborn mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud wrote on X. “The National Review ran this dangerous cartoon of @RashidaTlaib. This garbage was created by Henry Payne with the @detroitnews.”

    He added, “At what point will people call this out?”

    “Shame on the @detroitnews for allowing this racist, xenophobic vile cartoon on their platform,” Michigan state Rep. Abraham Aiyash, a Hamtramck Democrat, wrote on X. “Pay attention to who condemns this. And then recognize the different standard Arab and Muslim politicians are held by.”

    “Every elected official in Michigan needs to speak out about this disgusting cartoon from @DetroitNews,” Democratic Party strategist Waleed Shahid wrote on X.

    “Terrible, @detroitnews!” state Sen. Dayna Polehanki wrote on X.

    On his website, henrypayne.com, Payne titled the comic “Cartoon: Tlaib Pager Hamas,” implying that the Congresswoman is also a member of the governing body of Gaza.

    Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S, and both have been trading escalating attacks with Israel ever since Hamas captured Israeli hostages on Oct. 7.

    As the lone Palestinian American in Congress, Tlaib has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for backing Israel’s attacks, which have reportedly killed more than 40,000 people and risk exploding into a wider regional war. Tlaib and others in Congress have urged the Biden administration to call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire.

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  • Tlaib slams Nessel for targeting pro-Palestinian students at U-M: ‘A dangerous precedent’

    Tlaib slams Nessel for targeting pro-Palestinian students at U-M: ‘A dangerous precedent’

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    click to enlarge

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech in Dearborn in February, urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the presidential primary election to protest President Joe Biden’s support of Israel.

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib sharply criticized Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel for filing charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan on Thursday, saying her harsh actions could ruin the lives of bright, young students and set a dangerous precedent for peaceful protests.

    Tlaib, who was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants and is the only Palestinian American member of Congress, condemned the charges as an unjust and heavy-handed response to peaceful civil disobedience.

    “This is a move that’s going to set a precedent, and it’s unfortunate that a Democrat made that move,” Tlaib said in an exclusive interview with Metro Times on Friday. “You would expect that from a Republican, but not a Democrat, and it’s really unfortunate.”

    A student protest encampment, which was established in April, grew to include about 60 tents and was intended to draw attention to Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The attacks started after Oct. 7, when Hamas in Gaza killed more than 1,000 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages. Israel’s U.S.-backed retaliation has killed more than 40,000 people, many of them women and children.

    The students called for a ceasefire truce and also demanded the university divest from corporations linked to Israel. Despite multiple meetings between student liaisons and the university, the encampment remained in place, leading to police action on May 21.

    Most of those charged are alumni and students who refused to vacate the encampment after police ordered them to leave.

    Two people were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, for refusing to leave the encampment after repeated orders to vacate. An additional seven were charged with trespassing and resisting or obstructing a police officer, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison. These charges are reserved for those who allegedly made physical contact with officers or obstructed arrests, Nessel said.

    In addition, two people, including a U-M alumnus, have been charged for separate incidents during a counter-protest on April 25. One is charged with disturbing the peace and attempted ethnic intimidation, while the other faces charges of malicious destruction of personal property for allegedly breaking and discarding protestors’ flags.

    Tlaib recalled her visit to the encampment and described the atmosphere as peaceful and welcoming.

    “It was very inclusive. It was diverse, very loving,” Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat, says. “When I visited, I remember they were talking about the Armenian genocide, and what we learned from that — it was very powerful. I wish [University of Michigan] President [Santa] Ono could see his students as people that just want to save lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity.”

    click to enlarge Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan. - Doug Coombe

    Doug Coombe

    Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan.

    Tlaib also criticized Nessel, who is the first Jewish person elected Attorney General of Michigan, for what she believes is a biased approach to the protest.

    “We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest,” Tlaib says. “We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”

    In a statement announcing the charges, Nessel said the protesters should be held accountable.

    “Conviction in your ideals is not an excuse for violations of the law,” Nessel said. “A campus should not be lawless; what is a crime anywhere else in the city remains a crime on university property.”

    The charges are likely to have a devastating impact on the lives of the young protesters, Tlaib says.

    “It’s devastating because I just hope people don’t forget these are young folks,” she says. “Many of them remind me of my own self who wanted to free our world from oppression. I just know that her action is going to ruin their lives. That’s all I can think of. They’re so young, and they have such a tremendous future.”

    Tlaib accused Nessel of caving to demands to prosecute from university authorities, including Ono and members of the Board of Regents, pointing out that Washtenaw County prosecutors could have filed charges but didn’t. In May, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit brought charges against four people for allegedly resisting, obstructing, and assaulting police during a protest at the U-M Ruthven Administration Building on Nov. 17. But no other charges have been filed on the county level since then.

    “I think people at the University of Michigan put pressure on her to do this, and she fell for it,” Tlaib says. “I think President Ono and Board of Regent members were very much heavy-handed in this. It had to come from somewhere.”

    The congresswoman lamented the long-term impact of the university’s actions.

    “In 10 years, the University of Michigan itself is going to teach about this movement and say how wonderful it was, or how it moved our country toward a direction that it needed to, following international law and human rights laws and our own U.S. laws,” Tlaib says. “Yet people are going to write about how the University of Michigan decided to prosecute, criminalize, and vilify their students when they just did everything that they were taught to do.”

    Tlaib’s remarks highlight the ongoing tension between university administration, law enforcement, and student activists, as well as the broader implications for free speech and the right to protest in the United States.

    “Shame on President Ono and the University of Michigan leadership for enabling this,” Tlaib said. “True leadership, especially in positions of public service, is bringing communities together and having a dialogue. Instead, they’re using their political positions to divide the student population and really make everyone feel unsafe on campus and feel unseen and unheard.”

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  • Tlaib slams Netanyahu’s congressional address

    Tlaib slams Netanyahu’s congressional address

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib criticized her colleagues for hosting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the U.S. this week for a planned address on Wednesday.

    “Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” said Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress. “It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.”

    The address comes as Israel’s U.S.-supported attacks on Gaza have resulted in nearly 40,000 Palestinian deaths since October 2023, including more than 15,000 children, though a recent study in the journal Lancet estimated the toll could be as high as 186,000.

    Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court issued a request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for three Hamas leaders in Gaza.

    In her statement, Tlaib also pointed out that the U.S. has provided more than $141 billion in weapons to Israel, including $17.9 billion since October — despite the reports coming out of Gaza showing attacks on refugee camps and mass graves.

    “These are undeniably war crimes under international law,” Tlaib said.

    “Make no mistake: this event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” she added. “It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo op with a man who is actively committing genocide. It is hypocritical to claim to be concerned about the massive death toll of innocent civilians, and then turn around and welcome the person responsible for these war crimes to our Capitol. Their silence is betrayal, and history will remember them accordingly. Our government must stop supporting and funding this genocide now.”

    On Sunday, President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 election due to declining health, though he has promised to spend the remainder of his term on ending the war. The Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, Vice President Harris, has reportedly said that she believes the U.S. should be “tougher” on Netanyahu and show more concern for the Palestinian people.

    Tlaib, who has family in Palestine, is also the only member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress to not yet endorse Harris for president. Instead, Tlaib has said she is “eager” to speak to Harris about “an end to the funding of genocide in Gaza.”

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    Lee DeVito

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  • Tlaib intensifies anti-genocide message after Israel invades Rafah

    Tlaib intensifies anti-genocide message after Israel invades Rafah

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib delivered a speech in Dearborn in February, urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the presidential primary election to protest President Joe Biden’s support of Israel.

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib slammed her colleagues Tuesday for continuing to send billions of dollars in aid to Israel after the invasion of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing.

    Tlaib condemned her colleagues and President Joe Biden for sending billions in aid “with absolutely no conditions on upholding human rights.”

    Fears are mounting that Israel is preparing for a full-scale invasion after its military sent tanks into Rafah and conducted targeted airstrikes in the eastern part of the city on Tuesday to establish control over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.

    “Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu billions more in weapons,” Tlaib said in a lengthy statement. “Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide. For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.”

    The assault on Rafah came despite Biden warning Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion. The assault on the city threatened to deepen the divide between Biden and Netanhyahu over a potential ceasefire and a strategy to free the hostages held by Hamas.

    Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Since the war began, Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,500 people.

    Despite the disproportionate scale of violence by Israel, Congress and Biden signed off on more than $14 million to the country. More Democrats are now signaling that they won’t support additional money to Israel unless there are conditions, such as preventing civilian deaths in Gaza.

    Meanwhile, Tlaib said, the conditions in Gaza are so dire that it has become a “genocide of Palestinians.”

    “There is nowhere safe in Gaza,” Tlaib said. “Nearly 80% of the civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. There is no feasible evacuation plan, and the Israeli government is only trying to provide a false pretense of safety to try to maintain legal cover at the International Court of Justice.”

    The Detroit Democrat said the funding must stop.

    “It is now more apparent than ever that we must end all U.S. military funding for the Israeli apartheid regime, and demand that President Biden facilitate an immediate, permanent ceasefire that includes a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians,” Tlaib said.

    Tlaib also called on the International Court of Justice to “issue arrest warrants Netanhayu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law.”

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    Steve Neavling

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  • Rashida Tlaib Snaps When Reporter Asks If She’ll Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants In Her District

    Rashida Tlaib Snaps When Reporter Asks If She’ll Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants In Her District

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    Screenshot: Nicole Silverio

    Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib angrily shouted at Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn after she was offered a chance to condemn “death to America” chants shouted at a rally in Dearborn, Michigan, last weekend.

    The chants could be heard as activist Tarek Bazzi addressed the crowd at the rally. Bazzi criticized US foreign policy as he riled up the crowd by suggesting “the chant ‘Death to Israel’ has become the most logical chant across the world today.”

    Bazzi also referred to President Biden as “Genocide Joe” and said he “has to go.”

    The rally took place in Tlaib’s district, which includes Dearborn, home to the largest American Muslim population per capita, as well as the largest mosque in North America.

    RELATED: ‘Death To America’ Chants Crop Up At Anti-Israel Protests In Democrat Rashida Tlaib’s Heavily-Muslim District

    Rashida Tlaib Won’t Condemn ‘Death To America’ Chants

    One would think that condemning “death to America” chants would be rather easy. Especially when you are a sitting member of the House of Representatives.

    Not so for Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

    Vaughn asked: “At a rally in your district people were chanting ‘death to America’, do you condemn?”

    “I do not talk to Fox News,” Tlaib replied. She shouts the phrase repeatedly.

    Offered another opportunity, the Democrat lawmaker responded, “I don’t talk to people that use racist tropes.”

    “Using racist tropes towards my community is what Fox News is about and I don’t talk to Fox News,” Tlaib claims without evidence.

    “Is chanting death to America racist?” Vaughn wonders.

    “I’m talking about your guys’ racist tropes. You guys know exactly what you do. I know you’re Islamophobic,” Tlaib adds.

    RELATED: Rashida Tlaib’s Heavily-Muslim District Holding Pro-Palestine Rally To Celebrate ‘Our Martyrs’ After Terrorist Attacks On Israel

    Couldn’t Condemn The Murder Of Babies

    This isn’t the first time Democrat Rashida Tlaib was unable to make a simple condemnation of a heinous atrocity.

    Vaughn challenged her to comment on reports following the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas that the militants had killed children.

    While the validity of those claims was hazy, condemning such actions should have been easy with the addition of the phrase, “If true.”

    Tlaib couldn’t bring herself to do it, however.

    Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, and has accused Israel of being an “apartheid government.”

    She has a rich and documented history of spreading anti-Semitic tropes.

    And while she struggles to condemn terrorism and chants of “death to America,” she has no problem expressing emotions – hysterically crying – when she and her fellow Squad members get called out for engaging in said anti-Semitism.

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    CNN Coverage Of OJ’s Death: Simpson Represented The Black Community, ‘Particularly Because Two White People Were Killed’

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  • Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza visits Michigan to speak at U-M and meet with Rashida Tlaib

    Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza visits Michigan to speak at U-M and meet with Rashida Tlaib

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    Throughout the last six months, Palestinian citizens have taken on the vital role of journalism, capturing horrors in Gaza through videos and photographs shared across social media platforms. Among many, some of the most prominent faces have been Bisan Owda, Plestia Alaqad, and Motaz Azaiza, gaining millions of followers worldwide who not only seek updates on the conflict but also check in daily hoping for confirmation of the journalists’ continued safety.

    In late January, Azaiza announced to his 18.3 million Instagram followers that he would be leaving the Gaza Strip. Since then, he has traveled the world to spread awareness about what’s happening even further.

    On Monday, the 24-year-old Palestinian photojournalist visited Michigan, speaking to nearly 2,000 University of Michigan students, faculty, and community members at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater about his life before the war, his photojournalism work during it, and his hopelessness since leaving.

    The following day, he met with Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in Dearborn.

    “We talked a lot about our struggles as Palestinians and her work in the congress,” an Instagram post from @motaz_azaiza says. “We are making changes.”

    click to enlarge

    Tlaib presented Azaiza with a plaque of recognition for his journalism work in Gaza.

    At the meeting, Tlaib presented Azaiza with a plaque of recognition for his contributions to the field of journalism through “ongoing coverage of the Palestinian people and his commitment to telling their stories.”

    “Mr. Azaiza has focused his life’s work on capturing the family life of Palestinians in Gaza. Since the war began, he has bravely used his platform to document the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the lives of innocent people who have been killed,” the Congressional Record states. “Mr. Azaiza’s images on the ground have exposed the war crimes being committed by the Israeli government for the world to see. We applaud his efforts and bravery for risking his life to report on these atrocities.”

    The day after, another of Azaiza’s Instagram posts expressed his struggle to persist through ongoing pain while traveling from place to place to talk about Gaza, as innocent lives continue to be lost.

    “I can’t continue doing what I’m doing, traveling from [one] place to another to raise more awareness while every moment my heart goes down when I see a picture [of] a friend of mine injured or dead,” he states. “I am dead from inside and will not be able to continue.”

    In another recent post, he expressed that he hasn’t felt comfortable since he left the Gaza Strip. Tlaib echoed the sentiment in an Instagram post of her own following the meeting.

    “[Azaiza] may be physically away, but his mind, soul, and heart are still in Gaza,” she says. “The trauma and pain are evident in how he speaks about what he lived through and witnessed. He wants to save lives. He wants to help as many Palestinians as he can (me too). The overwhelming guilt weighing on him is felt instantly. Many of you reading this feel it too. How do we stop a genocide?”

    She continues on to say that their “existence is resistance,” and that shining light on what is happening will demonstrate the inhumanity further and help create change.

    “One day, our beloved Palestine will be free. One day, Motaz will see that Allah had a plan for him when he picked up that camera. One day, a world will be created where Palestinians are allowed to live,” the post continues. “We will never stop talking about Palestine. We will never forget the genocide in Gaza.”

    Detroiters rally in support of Palestine [PHOTOS]

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  • Listen to Michigan campaign rebukes Biden with strong ‘uncommitted’ Democratic primary results

    Listen to Michigan campaign rebukes Biden with strong ‘uncommitted’ Democratic primary results

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    As expected, President Joe Biden handily won Michigan’s Democratic primary election on Tuesday. But all eyes were on the Great Lakes State to see if a grassroots campaign urging people to vote “uncommitted” in protest of his handling of the war in Gaza could gain traction here, with Michigan becoming more influential in the national race after moving its primary election to earlier in the year.

    Launched by leaders from metro Detroit’s large Arab American community who call for a ceasefire in Gaza, the “Listen to Michigan” campaign bet that Democrats opposed to the war would turn out for the protest vote, but it wasn’t initially clear what benchmark would be considered a success. (There are some 200,000 Arab American voters in Michigan, while Biden beat Trump by about 150,000 votes in the 2020 general election.) Publicly, the campaign set a goal of 10,000 “uncommitted” votes, but that was an inadequate gauge; there were about 20,000 uncommitted voters in each of Michigan’s past three primary elections. So to make a statement, tens of thousands of Michiganders would have to vote “uncommitted” this time.

    The campaign declared victory Tuesday evening, with more than 38,000 votes for “uncommitted” shortly before 11 p.m. and 29% of votes in — enough for the campaign to send at least one delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

    “Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations,” the campaign said in a statement. “Tens of thousands of Michigan Democrats, many of whom voted for Biden in 2020, are uncommitted to his re-election due to the war in Gaza.”

    Critics warned if these voters don’t support Biden in November that the Listen to Michigan campaign could help Trump, whose authoritarian bent would be worse for Gaza, Arab Americans, and democracy.

    But in a video statement, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the most prominent supporters of Listen to Michigan, said the campaign was about participating in democracy to make its supporters’ voices heard.

    “We must protect our democracy, we must make sure that our government is about us, about the people,” she said, adding, “This is the way we can use our democracy to say, ‘Listen. Listen to Michigan.’”

    Tlaib said that she was proud to bring her 18-year-old son to vote for the first time ever on Tuesday. Her sister Layla Elabed is a campaign manager for Listen to Michigan.

    A similar group, the “Abandon Biden” campaign, declared victory well before polls even closed on Tuesday, saying that it had campaigners posted in Dearborn, the center of metro Detroit’s Arab American community, and “not a single person has said that they will vote for Biden,” the campaign’s Hassan Abdel Salam told Metro Times via email.

    “Whereas Biden won by 90% in 2020, there will be virtually no support this year for Biden,” he said. “It is not an understatement to say that this is an earthquake.”

    click to enlarge

    Viola Klocko

    A multicultural coalition in metro Detroit has rallied in opposition to the war in Gaza.

    Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore, who endorsed the Listen to Michigan campaign and famously predicted Trump would win in 2016, also anticipated a big turnout.

    “This is a movement that’s only about two weeks old and it has caught on fire, let me tell you, my friends,” he said on his podcast Rumble with Michael Moore. “I’m just telling you this as a Michigander, there are people by the thousands who are going to vote.”

    On Tuesday, Politico reported that Biden’s campaign was privately “freaking out about the uncommitted vote” in Michigan. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Governor Whitmer — a loyal Biden ally who has repeated the talking point claiming that anything other than a vote for Biden in the primary will help Trump in November — expressed empathy for the uncommitted voters while speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Tuesday.

    “Today, I anticipate that we will see a sizable number of people vote uncommitted,” she said, adding, “There’s a lot of people who are hurting.”

    When asked how Biden can win these voters back in November, Whitmer said, “It’s going to be important that the administration continue to engage with leaders and individuals in the Palestinian community, the Muslim community, the Arab American community, as well as the Jewish community.”

    Andy Levin, a Jewish former congressman who also supported the Listen to Michigan campaign, said that Biden must heed the warning and push harder for a ceasefire.

    “Joe Biden can get the vast majority of these people to vote for him if he changes course,” Levin said, according to The New York Times. “If he doesn’t change course, there’s nothing I can do to get folks to vote for him.”

    Israel’s bombing in Gaza has killed more than 30,000 people, with many more at risk of starvation and illness.

    This article was updated with more recent results from the primary election.

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    Lee DeVito

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  • Rashida Tlaib proposes bill to combat youth homelessness with direct cash payments

    Rashida Tlaib proposes bill to combat youth homelessness with direct cash payments

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

    Each year, more than 3.5 million young adults and approximately 700,000 youth experience various forms of homelessness, with Black and LGBTQ+ individuals facing an even higher risk than others. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of unhoused young adults aged 18 to 24 increased by 17%.

    In an effort to establish a new way of addressing the national issue of youth homelessness, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib introduced the Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act on Friday.

    The legislation proposes a pilot initiative offering $1,400 in direct cash aid for 36 months to emancipated minors and individuals under 30 experiencing homelessness. Housing, health, and other facets of the program will be studied.

    “We can’t keep repeating the same policy approaches that haven’t ended the youth homelessness crisis. By providing direct cash assistance, we can address our housing crisis while respecting the autonomy and dignity of the folks receiving assistance,” Tlaib said in a press release. “This bill came directly from young people with lived experience. They helped craft the bill to ensure that it meets the real needs of our unhoused neighbors. In the richest country in the history of the world, it’s time to eradicate homelessness. The Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act brings us closer to that goal.”

    Recent research indicates that cash assistance for unhoused populations can enhance housing and employment outcomes without leading to increased substance abuse issues. It also reduces reliance on shelters and grants individuals the autonomy to address their own unique challenges. Plus, participants in past cash assistance programs have described the impact as life-changing.

    Ann Arbor kicked off its own guaranteed income program about a month ago, but the study of cash assistance has been relatively uncommon in the U.S. thus far. Tlaib hopes to change that and use the proposed program to help demonstrate the benefits of direct cash assistance for young people.

    The proposed bill is endorsed by national and local organizations including Detroit Justice Center, Homeless Action Network of Detroit, Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, MiSide Community Impact Network, and the Ruth Ellis Center, among many others. The legislation is also cosponsored by representatives Cori Bush, Sylvia Garcia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barbara Lee, and Jan Schakowsky.

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    Layla McMurtrie

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  • Lapointe: WJR host calls Rashida Tlaib ‘a pig;’ her supporters ‘sick’ and ‘nuts’

    Lapointe: WJR host calls Rashida Tlaib ‘a pig;’ her supporters ‘sick’ and ‘nuts’

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib is not expected to face serious challenges for re-election either in the primary from Democrats or in the general election from Republicans on Nov. 5.

    When does free speech become hate speech?

    Can someone’s words be both things at the same time?

    Consider the air pollution belched forth recently from syndicated broadcaster Mark Levin — a right-wing crank — over the powerful radio station WJR (760-AM) in Detroit.

    Levin dislikes Rashida Tlaib, the third-term Democrat in the United States House of Representatives whose 12th Michigan district includes parts of Detroit’s west side and several suburbs.

    “You are such a pig … You are a pig, Rashida Tlaib,” Levin said last Friday night over WJR and other outlets. “Absolutely unbelievable.”

    Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American in Congress. Many Muslims and Arabs live in her district, although it is multi-racial, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic. Levin presented his contempt for Tlaib’s people as a plea to change immigration rules.

    “This is what happens when you don’t vet people coming into the country, like her parents, I guess, or her grandparents,” Levin said, adding, “Rashida Tlaib is an example of a completely broken immigration system. She’s an Islamist. She’s an Islamist who believes in ‘river to the sea.’”

    Some consider this phrase a code for the elimination of Israel, Levin said, adding that Tlaib once kept a map on her wall showing the Middle East without Israel. Tlaib vociferously opposes U.S. support for Israel in a war against Hamas in Gaza that began on Oct. 7 with an attack against the Israelis by Hamas from Gaza.

    Levin also accused Tlaib of representing and speaking to “Hamas front groups” protesting the war.

    “And there she is in the House of Representatives!” Levin screeched. “Embraced by the Democrat party! Embraced by [President Joe] Biden! Embraced by the Jews of the Democrat Party! … Sick! Nuts!”

    Levin said he was angered when Tlaib voted “present” on a resolution to condemn Hamas. He said her fellow Democrats refuse to criticize her because they need her vote on other issues.

    “‘It’s expected, it’s Tlaib!’” Levin shouted, mocking Democrats by pretending to speak for them. “‘It’s Rashida. We know Rashida. She’s a good gal.’”

    Levin then changed his tone to a snarl of bitter spite.

    “She is a mouthpiece for terrorism,” Levin said. “And I’m sick and tired of it.”

    As a gesture of protest to Biden for supporting Israel, Tlaib has called for her constituents to vote “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary, which ends on Feb. 27.

    But Levin charged Biden with betraying “Israel and the Jewish people” to please Tlaib’s voters in the general election in autumn.

    “He needs the votes of her constituents,” Levin said. “He needs the votes from Dearborn-istan.” (That’s one of Levin’s favorite new words: “Dearborn-istan.” Get it?)

    “He [Biden] needs the Jew-hating, neo-Nazi vote,” Levin said. A few days before, Levin widened the scope of his aim to Dearborn’s Muslim religious leaders who, Levin said, also want a “river-to-the-sea” solution.

    “And they say as much in Dearborn,” Levin said, “like in Dearborn, Michigan — which you’re not allowed to mention — and yet the imams there are clear antisemites. Not all of them. Most of them.”

    A message to Tlaib’s office for comment was not returned. She is not expected to face serious challenges for re-election either in the primary from Democrats or in the general election from Republicans on Nov. 5.

    But Biden’s presidential race against the demagogue Donald Trump could hinge on turnouts and margins in Michigan and, particularly, in places like Dearborn, which are politically engaged more than some communities.

    Day or night, in the undertone of some WJR commercials, you can hear the fear and paranoia that WJR programming, local and national, tends to stoke.

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    Although WJR now holds a dwindling share of a dwindling media platform, its 50,000 AM watts carry to many states as well as into Canada. No doubt its signal passes through Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Southfield, Livonia, Westland, Inkster, and the west side of Detroit, where Tlaib’s voters live.

    WJR’s “news-talk” format appears to be in flux and can be divided roughly into Right Wing Lite — with local hosts in the daytime — and Right Wing Spite at night, with Levin and other syndicated voices attacking liberals and progressives more viciously after dark.

    In the early afternoon, they recently dumped the syndicated Dan Bongino, who had replaced the late Rush Limbaugh. They’ve shuffled their (mostly white male) daytime voices.

    And Levin’s attitude gets echoed by day by local hosts like Tom Jordan, who said Tuesday on “All Talk” that “I absolutely believe that Joe Biden is listening to the likes of Rashida Tlaib.” (On “All Talk,” he is rarely “President Biden.”)

    “She is denouncing what she calls these war crimes by Israel against Hamas,” Jordan said, “but ignoring the countless war crimes by Hamas.”

    This is a cute verbal trick. Tlaib decries aggression against innocent civilians, not against terrorists. The radio man simply merges them. Later, Jordan blended Tlaib supporters with people who deny the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

    “It’s absolutely crazy,” Jordan said, “but there’s people in our — the likes of people who support Rashida Tlaib — they’re denying Oct. 7 actually occurred.”

    Last October, Jordan said of Tlaib: “She supports, it seems, Hamas, a terrorist regime … She is denouncing Israel. That is absolutely un-American … She is a terrorist sympathizer.” He then listed other terrorist groups that “she probably sympathizes with.”

    Day or night, in the undertone of some WJR commercials, you can hear the fear and paranoia that WJR programming, local and national, tends to stoke.

    Like that gritty-voiced feller for “My Patriot” emergency food supply urging you to spend your money to prepare “fer whut’s comin’.” Oh, they also sell “survival gear.” Need some, buddy? ‘Cuz ya know whut’s comin’.

    Of course, WJR has no obligation to balance its political tone or racist biases because, since 1987, radio and television stations are no longer subject to what was once called “the Fairness Doctrine.” President Ronald Reagan took care of that. Hey, didn’t he start his career in AM radio?

    Perhaps the quaint concept of “the public airwaves” has been demolished by technology that transmits media from satellites that orbit in outer space, above the public air. The abandonment of Fairness triggered the Limbaugh era for AM radio which continues to this day, three years after his death.

    It also enabled right-wing television networks like Fox News Channel and its various imitators that have popped up like weeds in a garden.

    But AM terrestrial radio stations like WJR are still land-based, just as WJR was in the 1920s, when it launched the career of Father Charles Coughlin, the antisemitic “radio priest” of Royal Oak whose nationally broadcast sermons were interrupted by World War II and the Holocaust.

    Come to think of it, Mark Levin and Charles Coughlin share the same air, a century apart, emitting similar odors from different directions. Strange bedfellows.

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    Joe Lapointe

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  • Tlaib bill slams door on war cash for politicos and their families

    Tlaib bill slams door on war cash for politicos and their families

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    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

    U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at preventing politicians and their families from profiting from war.

    The Stop Politicians Profiting from War Act would bar members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children from having any financial stakes in companies that do work with the U.S. Department of Defense. The legislation would also ban congressional members and their families from trading defense stocks.

    Members of Congress are currently permitted to own and trade stocks, regardless of their committee assignments and access to insider information.

    U.S. lawmakers made 96 transactions in defense stocks in 2023, and eight of those purchases occurred since October, when the war between Hamas and Israel broke out, according to Capitol Trades.

    Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat, said the public’s faith in government has eroded because members of Congress have exploited their positions to line their pockets.

    “My colleagues continue to funnel billions of American tax dollars to the very same defense contractors that many of them are invested in and taking campaign donations from,” Tlaib said in a statement. “The American people deserve representatives who vote in the best interest of our country and our families, not their stock portfolios. It is shameful that some of my colleagues are profiting financially when they vote to support wars and weapons manufacturing. Members of Congress should not be able to use their positions of power to get rich from defense contractors while voting to pass more funding to bomb innocent civilians. The American people deserve better. We are sick of politicians profiting from endless wars.”

    Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, has been a fierce critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Since the war began, Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 27,000 people and wounded an additional 66,000.

    Numerous groups are endorsing Tlaib’s bill.

    “Elected officials owning defense contractor stocks while also controlling annual budget allocations is the opposite of a virtuous circle,” Savannah Wooten, who leads Public Citizen’s People Over Pentagon campaign, which is committed to reducing the Pentagon’s budget and spending more on domestic and human needs issues. “It’s an astonishing testament to the deep power of the military-industrial-Congressional complex that owning defense contractor stock while in office hasn’t yet been banned. Rep. Tlaib’s legislation is a long overdue and welcome proposal. The bill should be passed immediately.”

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    Steve Neavling

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