A majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives rejected the bill on Tuesday out of fear that it could grant President-elect Donald Trump the legal tools with which to target his ideological foes, but Republicans are swiftly pressing ahead.

“This bill was designed to criminalize organizations and activists who oppose the U.S.’s unconditional support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and the slaughter of Lebanese civilians,” read the statement, which was signed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslims for Palestine, and others. “We will continue to stand firm in protecting all organizations’ freedom to speak and operate without fear of political retribution.”

With pro-Israel groups lobbying for the bill, it gained popularity among House Democrats, in part due to a provision providing tax relief to Americans held hostage abroad.

Ultimately, 144 Democrats voted no, along with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., barely meeting the threshold to block the bill from fast-track passage. Voting in favor were 204 Republicans and 52 Democrats. The narrow loss — with so many Democrats supporting the bill, opponents had no votes to spare — provoked outrage from supporters of the bill like Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., who had spoken in favor of it prior to the vote.

      • SoylentBlake
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        2 hours ago

        If L. Ron Hubbard can do it, if Joseph Smith could do it, if Jim Jones could do it, well, I think W.H. ithom can do it too.

        • whithom@discuss.online
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          52 minutes ago

          Do you want to be in my church? We don’t believe in taxing the worker, or paying for healthcare.

          • SoylentBlake
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            30 minutes ago

            I’ve joked with my wife for a decade now that my dream job would be a cult leader.

            Let’s see…Knowledge is our birthright. The technology, our tools, the products of said birthright, should be communally freely available, library like. I want to check out an excavator for a few days. Or a hot air balloon.

            Civil government should be prioritized around helping the citizen accomplish their goal with the best knowledge and practices currently known and previously known. Every inspector should be more mentor/advisor than authoritarian or disciplinarian.

            Personal property, not private property.

            Love is love, no one cares who you fuck. Sexuality is a spectrum and it can change over your lifetime, and that’s ok. You do you, and whoever you want too, boo. it’s a boring conversation, there’s only 3 basic options, how many times we need to rehash this shit? fuck everybody. I mean that dismissively, sarcastically, exasperatedly, figuratively AND literally.

            …what else… keep it going.