Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[Derec]

AOC as a schoolteacher? She might still have been an activist, and she might still have run for office some day. All the ways that history could turn out...

What would she be teaching? Certainly not English with her "most amount" ...

 

[angelo]

What on Earth would such an airhead as AOC teach? I know. She would teach the gullible 15-18 year old students that magic is possible. All it needs is to plant a billion money trees! And the free shit would be unlimited!

 

[lpetrich]

December 2019 Town Hall | Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
About her Green New Deal upgrade of public housing.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I am so thankful for how our NY-14 community pays attention.
The Congressional schedule has members in DC most of the week, so that often means events on nights/weekends.But people make time for it

It’s Sunday night in Jackson Heights & we had a packed house talking policy! https://t.co/F1jQrwRsYI" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "It really means a lot to me. I know how precious people’s free time is, and the fact that Bronx & Queens families choose to spend their time with me to ask important questions is very meaningful.
So thanks everyone! See you again next weekend!" / Twitter


NKMJWY on Twitter: "@AOC @shek_krishnan I sure do wish my rep, @RepStefanik, would come and have a real, open town hall in NY-21. Sadly, she's too busy gaslighting for Devin Nunes." / Twitter
That's Elise Stefanik, the previous youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and someone who brags about being the opposite of AOC.

SGTweets on Twitter: "@AOC @shek_krishnan So what’s @GOP excuse for never holding town halls or anything. My GOP Rep and Senator day it’s a security and scheduling issue. Doesn’t seem like everyone is a coward like them." / Twitter

Less of a Hypocrite on Twitter: "@AOC @shek_krishnan My Congressman, @RepJohnKatko, has never had an open town hall. Never. Not once. 700,000 people in his district. No accountability. Fears his own constituency." / Twitter

All four of those no-show politicians are Republicans. I recall AOC recommending that politicians do regular town halls, and that if they don't, then local activists should have in-absentia town halls with pictures or cutouts of the no-show politicians.

Sharon Louden on Twitter: "@AOC @shek_krishnan Yay! It was just fantastic. THANK YOU for making time for us, for answering questions truthfully and with transparency, thank you for listening, for being kind. I’m even more motivated after meeting you. Thanks for all you do for us! " / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

AOC as a schoolteacher? She might still have been an activist, and she might still have run for office some day. All the ways that history could turn out...

What would she be teaching? Certainly not English with her "most amount" ...

"Most amount"???

What on Earth would such an airhead as AOC teach? I know. She would teach the gullible 15-18 year old students that magic is possible. All it needs is to plant a billion money trees! And the free shit would be unlimited!

How so???

AOC has a history of being a tutor.

Students from four nations converge on Cabrini for Northeast CWS - NHI Magazine - 2017 Jul 29

The program’s educational director, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, took a week from her campaign for a U.S. Congressional seat to help coordinate the Northeast CWS program. She said, “I often get asked at this program why I am taking a week off the campaign trail to work with 150 high school students. The answer is simple: It’s entirely centering. They are why I’m doing this. My background as an educator and working in my community is the only reason I’m running for Congress. Serving with them, and having the students serve me with their insights, and learning more about them and their passions, humanizes this race for me. It reminds me what’s important. It’s reminds me why I’m doing this and who I’m doing it for.”

NHI = National Hispanic Institute
CWS = Collegiate World Series

From NHI to Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - NHI Magazine - 2017 Jul 1

Running for Congress was not a planned venture. My community engagement, activism, and life experiences led me here in a rather unexpected way. Years ago I worked for the late Senator Kennedy, but quickly exited politics after disliking the influence of money and dynastic power in our political system. I tried to focus on social entrepreneurship and community work instead. After the recession hit and my family was in danger of losing our home, I turned to the service industry to help make ends meet.

That all changed last year, when I helped organize the Bronx for the Bernie Sanders campaign. After the election some friends and I hopped in a car and began sitting down with everyday people across the country to explore pressing issues facing our communities: we went to Flint, MI; Standing Rock, South Dakota; and Puerto Rico.

To be honest, I didn’t quite know what doors I was opening then. I was following my instinct. When I got back from those travels, I got a call from Brand New Congress regarding my nomination for a congressional run. There would be no big money or backroom deals involved – it would be an all-grassroots effort to move the nation forward. It felt like exactly what the country needed and the right thing to do.

Celebracion 2017 panel explores future of Latinos in politics - NHI Magazine - 2017 Nov 21 -- And Ocasio-Cortez perhaps expressed that best in assessing the tribalism existing in today’s politics, noting, “The gas that fuels tribalism is fear. The antidote for that is hope and love. I practice a politics based on love.”

 

[lpetrich]

Bangladeshi Amer for Political Progress (BAPP) on Twitter: "Tonight some of our members got the opportunity to thank @aoc in person for supporting us. She was so excited about endeavors. We can’t wait to collaborate with her on working class issues facing the Bangladeshi-American community. https://t.co/Af3TKVHMPY" / Twitter
With a picture of AOC with them - she likes to look like some well-dressed businesswoman.


NPR on Twitter: "A new U.N. report argues many of the street protests popping up around the globe are driven by a growing sense that societies are rigged to favor the powerful — and trap the masses in low-wage, dead-end lives. https://t.co/dPxLxDzY6r" / Twitter
noting
Income Inequality Isn't The Only Kind Of Global Inequity, Says U.N. Report : Goats and Soda : NPR

"What people perhaps 30, 40 years ago were led to believe and often saw around them," Steiner says, "was that if you worked hard, you could escape poverty." Yet in many countries today, he says upward social mobility is "simply not occurring" anymore.

The Human Development Report 2019 makes the case that many of the street protests popping up around the globe are driven by a growing sense that societies are rigged to favor the powerful and trap the masses in low-wage, dead-end lives.

AOC herself had made a case like that in her campaign video "The Courage to Change".

 

[Derec]

"Most amount"???

That's what she said.

When–at what point is it immoral that we’re building Jeff Bezos a helipad when we have the most amount of homeless people in New York City?

AOC has a history of being a tutor.

What did she tutor those kids in? Activism for dummies?

Running for Congress was not a planned venture.

Not by her. She fell ass-backwards into it. The whole thing was planned though by DSA and JD.

 

[KeepTalking]

Why isn't the elephant in the room been addressed? That elephant is Islam! A backward barbaric supremacist ideology that is purely religion driven.

One might even go so far as to posit the not only is Islam "religion driven", it even seems to act like an actual religion! Who would have thought?

The trouble arises because it's a supremacists ideology posing as a religion!

Take a look Derec, case in point. Angelo still does not realize that Islam is a religion.

What don't you understand about my point that islam is a supremacist ideology posing as a religion?

The thing I don't understand is how you can fail to realize that Islam is, in fact, a religion.

Nearly any religion can manifest extremist ideologies in its followers, Christianity is another such example, and Islam is no exception in this regard.

Big, big difference is xtianity went through a reformation which today renders it mostly harmless as compared to the murderous, barbaric ideology of islam! Over 35.000 muzzie terrorist attacks just since 9/11 which has resulted in hundreds of thousand of innocent deaths and maimed.

Nice number you have there, care to back it up?

I don't think you have ever posted anything close to an accurate number on this board in any context, so please provide a credible source.

 

[Toni]

That's what she said.

AOC has a history of being a tutor.

What did she tutor those kids in? Activism for dummies?

Running for Congress was not a planned venture.

Not by her. She fell ass-backwards into it. The whole thing was planned though by DSA and JD.

Really, Derec? I'd love to know your academic accomplishments. My guess is that they don't hold a candle to AOC's.

My other guess is that if she were Alex instead of Alexandria, you would not be nearly so vocal.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is the Fourth Most Tweeted About Politician in the World, Beating Clinton, Sanders and Biden
noting
#ThisHappened in 2019
The most tweeted about: Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Indian PM Narendra Modi, AOC, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The New York representative has an enormous audience on the network, holding 5.6 million followers on her account at the time of writing.

But, while she has more followers than Biden, Ocasio-Cortez has managed to rank as the fourth most tweeted about politician of the year despite having significantly fewer followers than Clinton and Sanders, who can boast of 26 million and 8.8 million respectively.

She also gets retweeted a lot and she often makes headlines, like her vs. Amazon.

President Trump's ranking as the most tweeted about politician worldwide is not likely to come as a surprise, given the fact he has a much greater following of 67.4 million and holds the highest office in American politics.

The commander-in-chief is also a prolific tweeter, posting 105 times on Sunday alone and prompting an angry response from North Korea in the process.

AOC is not quite as talkative, and she seems to be more careful about what she tweets than Trump. She has even joked about "emptying the bin" of draft tweets that she decided not to send.

Public Citizen on Twitter: ".@AOC: I’m tired of this idea that #MedicareForAll and tuition free public colleges are some hand out from somebody else. Nobody else is giving us a damn thing. We build this on our own. https://t.co/k8IL6Gfq8I" / Twitter

From a year ago:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Claims Sephardic Jewish Roots – The Forward
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tweets About Jewish Heritage – The Forward
Also in the Washington Post and in her Instagram. She also helped light a candle that was then used to light the menorah candles.

 

[angelo]

Why isn't the elephant in the room been addressed? That elephant is Islam! A backward barbaric supremacist ideology that is purely religion driven.

One might even go so far as to posit the not only is Islam "religion driven", it even seems to act like an actual religion! Who would have thought?

The trouble arises because it's a supremacists ideology posing as a religion!

Take a look Derec, case in point. Angelo still does not realize that Islam is a religion.

What don't you understand about my point that islam is a supremacist ideology posing as a religion?

The thing I don't understand is how you can fail to realize that Islam is, in fact, a religion.

Nearly any religion can manifest extremist ideologies in its followers, Christianity is another such example, and Islam is no exception in this regard.

Big, big difference is xtianity went through a reformation which today renders it mostly harmless as compared to the murderous, barbaric ideology of islam! Over 35.000 muzzie terrorist attacks just since 9/11 which has resulted in hundreds of thousand of innocent deaths and maimed.

Nice number you have there, care to back it up?

I don't think you have ever posted anything close to an accurate number on this board in any context, so please provide a credible source.

This is a conservative number. Unless you think this isn't a credible source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks

 

[KeepTalking]

Why isn't the elephant in the room been addressed? That elephant is Islam! A backward barbaric supremacist ideology that is purely religion driven.

One might even go so far as to posit the not only is Islam "religion driven", it even seems to act like an actual religion! Who would have thought?

The trouble arises because it's a supremacists ideology posing as a religion!

Take a look Derec, case in point. Angelo still does not realize that Islam is a religion.

What don't you understand about my point that islam is a supremacist ideology posing as a religion?

The thing I don't understand is how you can fail to realize that Islam is, in fact, a religion.

Nearly any religion can manifest extremist ideologies in its followers, Christianity is another such example, and Islam is no exception in this regard.

Big, big difference is xtianity went through a reformation which today renders it mostly harmless as compared to the murderous, barbaric ideology of islam! Over 35.000 muzzie terrorist attacks just since 9/11 which has resulted in hundreds of thousand of innocent deaths and maimed.

Nice number you have there, care to back it up?

I don't think you have ever posted anything close to an accurate number on this board in any context, so please provide a credible source.

This is a conservative number. Unless you think this isn't a credible source.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks

So, a source that shows approximately 400 attacks since the 1970s is somehow supposed to make your assertion of 35,000 attacks since 9/11 look conservative? I suppose that works as long as you are using the current definition of conservative in use by the Republican party in the USA, which would be "lie about every inconvenient fact with which you are confronted".

 

[lpetrich]

Public Citizen on Twitter: ".@AOC: I’m tired of this idea that #MedicareForAll and tuition free public colleges are some hand out from somebody else. Nobody else is giving us a damn thing. We build this on our own. https://t.co/k8IL6Gfq8I" / Twitter
Repeating it to note that it has some video of AOC speaking at a recent town hall.

Andrew Lawrence on Twitter: "Tucker Carlson guest says that @AOC's district is dirty and the reason it's so dirty is bc it's "one of the least American districts in the country ... it is occupied by relatively few American citizens" https://t.co/OOn6aiMt7L" / Twitter
showing lots of litter and bags of junk.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I go back and forth on whether to go on Fox News.
The main reason I haven’t is squaring the fact that the ad revenue from it bankrolls a white supremacist sympathizer to broadcast an hour-long production of unmitigated racism, without any accountability whatsoever. https://t.co/Yn1XZ912f7" / Twitter
She seems very thoughtful.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "“Immigrants are dirty” is a lazy, tired, racist trope.
Secondly, environmental injustice is a major motivation as to why we introduced and wrote the Green New Deal the way we did in the first place." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

AOC Says She'll Introduce More Psychedelics Legislation In Congress | Marijuana Moment noting Decriminalize Nature: NYC - Posts

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she supports the national movement to decriminalize psychedelics and plans to again introduce legislation promoting research into such substances, according to an activist who spoke with her following a town hall meeting on Sunday.

At the event in New York City, the congresswoman had a brief conversation with a member of a local group working to advance a measure to remove criminal penalties associated with entheogenic plants and fungi such as psilocybin and ibogaine.

Aaron Genuth, organizing director for Decriminalize Nature New York City, told Marijuana Moment that he discussed the group’s efforts with Ocasio-Cortez in a photo line and said she was “extremely happy” about the group’s work.

The congresswoman “made sure to note that she’s working on it and introducing another measure in Congress,” he said. “It was a really good, positive encounter and confirmed that she’s extremely supportive of what we’re all doing.”

Earlier this year,
How Democrats Helped Republicans Shut Down AOC's Psychedelics Research Measure | Marijuana Moment

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Sadly our drug research amendment failed today, but I’m undeterred.
I’m proud we were even able to bring a vote on psychedelic research to the House floor.
30% of veterans have considered suicide. These drugs show extreme promise in treating PTSD + more.
Let’s keep at it. https://t.co/Hf6bsN7ws4" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "The good news: one of my amendments DID pass w/ bipartisan support: funding treatment for opioid-related infectious diseases.
Our leg that did pass will help many Americans struck by the opioid crisis, and the one that didn’t lays the groundwork for future breakthroughs. " / Twitter

 

[Derec]

Really, Derec? I'd love to know your academic accomplishments. My guess is that they don't hold a candle to AOC's.

Maybe not a candle, but certainly a high-power LED light.
We both have bachelor's degrees. Hers is "bachelor of arts", mine is "bachelor of science". BS, despite the unfortunate initialism, is more rigorous than BA. My alma mater is actually ranked higher than hers, but is significantly cheaper because it's a public school and not a fancy private school that she expects other people to pay for (through student loan forgiveness).
But my comment was not about her formal academic credentials, it was about her stupid activism like driving 3000 miles in a gasoline-burning Subaru to protest against an oil pipeline. That's about as stupid as participating in an orgy to protest against sex.

My other guess is that if she were Alex instead of Alexandria, you would not be nearly so vocal.

You are kinda right about that one. If she were Alex, lpetrich would not be infatuated with him and there would not be this megathread for me to post in. Her being a (except for crazy eyes reasonably attractive) woman is, one big reason she gets so much attention and coverage from the media. If she were Alex she'd be just another obscure backbencher.

 

[laughing dog]

Really, Derec? I'd love to know your academic accomplishments. My guess is that they don't hold a candle to AOC's.

Maybe not a candle, but certainly a high-power LED light.
We both have bachelor's degrees. Hers is "bachelor of arts", mine is "bachelor of science". BS, despite the unfortunate initialism, is more rigorous than BA.

A BS in a subject is more intensive than a BA in the same subject at the same school. Whether a BS in one subject is more rigorous" than a BA in different subject at the same school depends on the subjects. If the schools are different, then that comes into play as well.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC has Instagrammed on her tour of the Capitol Dome. One goes up in it along the inside of it, and at the top of it, there is a small outdoor observation deck. One starts in the Crypt, a floor beneath the floor of the dome interior. It was originally intended to be the entrance to George Washington's tomb. The dome is actually a pair of nested domes, an inner one and an outer one. Many of the structural and support parts are in the outer dome. High up in the domes, the staircase starts getting squeezed. From the top of the inner dome, the view is rather dizzying - it's a long way down, and almost vertical. Then a bit upward in the outer dome until one reaches the top of that one, complete with a great view of DC.

It is a very exclusive sort of thing. One needs to be accompanied by a Congressmember, and even then, it may be necessary to wait some months for a tour slot to open up. Someone canceled at the last minute, and AOC took the slot, bringing along her staffers, her interns, and her boyfriend Riley. But there is some WWII-era graffiti carved on one of the railings.

Frieze of American History | Architect of the Capitol - it circles the base of the dome, going from Christopher Columbus to the Wright Brothers.

Apotheosis of Washington | Architect of the Capitol

In the central group of the fresco, Brumidi depicted George Washington rising to the heavens in glory, flanked by female figures representing Liberty and Victory/Fame. A rainbow arches at his feet, and thirteen maidens symbolizing the original states flank the three central figures. (The word "apotheosis" in the title means literally the raising of a person to the rank of a god, or the glorification of a person as an ideal; George Washington was honored as a national icon in the nineteenth century.)

Six groups of figures line the perimeter of the canopy; the following list begins below the central group and proceeds clockwise:

• War, with Armed Freedom and the eagle defeating Tyranny and Kingly Power
• Science, with Minerva teaching Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulton, and Samuel F.B. Morse
• Marine, with Neptune holding his trident and Venus holding the transatlantic cable, which was being laid at the time the fresco was painted
• Commerce, with Mercury handing a bag of money to Robert Morris, financier of the American Revolution
• Mechanics, with Vulcan at the anvil and forge, producing a cannon and a steam engine
• Agriculture, with Ceres seated on the McCormick Reaper, accompanied by America in a red liberty cap and Flora picking flowers.

The maintenance department for this and other Congressional buildings is called the Architect of the Capitol, or AOC for short.

AOC ended it with a slogan on a wall somewhere there: "You are the Rulers and the Ruled". She herself wrote "Fin." on the picture that she took.

 

[lpetrich]

Architect of the Capitol | Serve, Preserve, Inspire

 United States Capitol dome - it was two domes.

The first dome was built over 1822-23, and it had a height of 140 ft / 43 m. It was made of copper, and it corroded to a greenish color, as the Statue of Liberty would later do.

The second dome, the present one, was built over 1855-66, and it has a height of 289 ft / 88 m and a diameter of 96 ft / 29 m. It is made out of cast iron that was painted to look like the stone of the rest of the building.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Health insurance costs have gone up *20%* in the past year.
This is the healthcare system of “choice” that so many politicians are committed to protecting with small, incremental tweaks.
Meanwhile, Big Pharma & insurance lobbyists treat Congressional staffers to spa weekends. https://t.co/58VDRPf7HY" / Twitter
noting
Heather Long on Twitter: "Crazy — health insurance costs in the USA are up 20.2% in the past year, according to CPI data out this morning.
h/t @pboockvar https://t.co/qz3uau0GxO" / Twitter

A stunning indictment of the U.S. health-care system, in one chart - The Washington Post
Delaying treatment from cost has gone from 11% in 1991 to 25% in 2019. AOC herself has stated in a hearing that many people ration their own healthcare.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "If you think I’m joking about the spa weekend bit, I’m not!
One of the sneaky and most corrupting aspects of lobbying is to court a members’ staff - especially their chief.
It just happened earlier this year with lobbyists fighting Medicare for All: https://t.co/Xp3rq8Y1XW" / Twitter

Congressional Staff Hosted at Anti-Medicare For All Retreat

The event was hosted by a group called Center Forward and featured a lecture from industry lobbyists leading the charge on undermining progressive health care proposals. Center Forward was originally known as the Blue Dog Research Forum, a think tank affiliated with the conservative Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats; the coalition has pressed the caucus to oppose social welfare spending, taxes on the wealthy, and regulations on business.

The organization’s website is filled with bromides about giving “centrist allies the information they need to craft common sense solutions” that paper over an agenda designed to enrich powerful corporations.

Talk about super corruption. Getting not only Congresspeople, but also those who do much of their work, their staffers. What sort of lobbying budget do they have?

Fox News called good pay for AOC's staffers and interns "socialism". Could it be that they were relaying instructions from lobbyists who were concerned that AOC would be making her staff too difficult to buy?

 

[lpetrich]

Bernie Sanders on Twitter: "My friend @RepRoKhanna is right: it is Orwellian for Congress to hand over billions of dollars worth of weapons and bombs to a president waging a horrific, unconstitutional war in Yemen—and call that progressive. https://t.co/6SUmUUhv3q" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Proud to join @RepRoKhanna in voting NO on the NDAA.
As Ro says, when Pres Obama left, the US defense budget was $618 BILLION/year.
It will now be $120 billion more than that.
No pundits ask how we pay for it, or blast it as “free stuff.” We just accept it.
Pay attention. https://t.co/MWqCwJ8Sr7" / Twitter
Trump has talked about stopping endless wars, even as he has continued them.


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "This video is about the UK, but it might as well have been produced about the United States.
The hoarding of wealth by the few is coming at the cost of peoples’ lives.
The only way we change is with a massive surge of *new* voters at the polls. UK, Vote!
https://t.co/N5JYaVGCBs" / Twitter
She primaried Joe Crowley by getting out the vote for her and getting a big boost in primary turnout.

 

[lpetrich]

Be A King on Twitter: "I never intend to adjust myself to injustice.
“I’m proud to be maladjusted.” https://t.co/TFBiWBy6Xc" / Twitter

TIME on Twitter: ".@GretaThunberg is TIME's 2019 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY [url]https://t.co/YZ7U6Up76v https://t.co/SWALBfeGl6" / Twitter[/url]
then
Roma Downey on Twitter: "Congrats @GretaThunberg https://t.co/iOxWUhbaJ8" / Twitter
then
Donald J. Trump on Twitter: "So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE" / Twitter
then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Because nothing says “mature temperament” like getting rankled by a 16 year old activist. https://t.co/fSH030DduW" / Twitter

If anyone has anger-management problems, it's Trump. GT herself once tweeted that she was working on her anger management, but this seems like an anger-management version of the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. GT gets angry and she feels embarrassed by doing so, while Trump gets angry and feels not a bit of embarrassment.