• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

I presume your marriage proposal to this wide eyed wild socialist has been sent? :)

It's adorable that you think socialist is a bad word whilst living on a pension and receiving medical care for yourself and your spouse.
 
Johanna Toruño on Instagram: “Nothing but respect for our NY 14th district Rep @aoc 💜✨ we had to stop by cause hell yeah we were that hyped. QUEENS 🦄 as we walked…” - with a picture of one of AOC's campaign offices.

I caught up with the trip with the other Congresspeople's social-media accounts.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc) • Instagram photos and videos
Carolyn B. Maloney (@CarolynBMaloney) / Twitter
Carolyn B. Maloney (@RepMaloney) / Twitter
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) / Twitter
Steny Hoyer (@LeaderHoyer) / Twitter

What they looked like:
AOC: young, long dark-brown hair
NV: middle age, short medium-brown hair, thin eyebrows
CM: old, neck-length blond hair
SH: old, short white hair

Day 1: The delegation met with high-level Puerto Rican officials in a conference room

AOC: hair in bun, orange-yellow dress, black jacket
NV: loose white shirt, pendant, black pants
CM: black pantsuit
SH: business suit with yellow tie with pattern of something on it

Day 2: The delegation visited some damaged buildings in SW PR, including a school and a powerplant, and visited some of the people there

AOC: hair in ponytail(?), light pink sort-of jumpsuit with no sleeves, low neckline, and loose leg parts
NV: dark-green-thin-light-yellow plaid shirt, white pants
CM: black pantsuit, sometimes with a dark blue cap with an American flag on it
SH: light blue shirt, khaki pants
 
AOC, Steny Hoyer, Carolyn Maloney, and Nydia Velazquez have completed Instagramming about their trip to Puerto Rico, with AOC doing a written ask-me-anything on Instagram.

AOC got a partial answer about the emergency supplies in warehouses.

As to visiting in person, she says that doing that can be very valuable. It can get people to do some cleaning up for the occasion. One can also get responses that one may not be able to get otherwise. That also happened on last year's trip to the border.

FEMA works on a reimbursement model, something that can be difficult when one does not have much money, as is often the case in PR.

She notes that austerity, the recent hurricanes and earthquakes, and the lack of recovery have produced mental health problems, like PTSD in children, and anxiety, depression, and suicide.

She also tells us that we have to stand up to fossil-fuel interests and instead build wind turbines and solar panels.

The damaged powerplant is the Costa Sur one. It supplies some 20 - 25% of PR's electricity.

A school building was damaged by a recent earthquake, and a new one will be built at another location. In the meantime, students will be taught in tent classrooms, then trailer classrooms.

Following building codes can make a difference, like between two neighboring houses. One survived intact, while the other had some major damage. Some construction contractors may pinch pennies with substandard construction, and some buildings are pre-code, like many schools.

Some families were living in tent cities after the recent earthquakes.
 
I presume your marriage proposal to this wide eyed wild socialist has been sent? :)

It's adorable that you think socialist is a bad word whilst living on a pension and receiving medical care for yourself and your spouse.

The planet has been dragged, sometimes unwillingly out of poverty, to higher standards of living for most of the planets inhabitants, not by socialism, but by capitalism.
 
About corruption, AOC notes that some people seem to believe that *every* Puerto Rican is corrupt, and she notes the warehouse issue as possible corruption. But she met a lot of recovery workers and public servants who seem to be doing as best a job as they can.

As to ethical tourism, it would be to get as much of one's money into local hands as is reasonably feasible, like staying at locally-owned hotels and shopping at locally-owned stores and venturing out of San Juan.

¡AOC!
ORGANIZING
BASE

Gabriel Hernández Solano on Instagram: “"I am not interested in just showing up every two years to ask our community for your vote. I am interested in making deep investments in the Bronx and in Queens”. This space will serve as an organizing base not just for the campaign but also other community organizations, leaders, and activities. Arriba los que luchan! ... #organize #organizate #greennewdeal #gnd #luchando #creando #poderpopular #peopleoverprofit #movement #notmeus #aoc #2020 #bronx #bx #parkchester #niuyor #nuevayork #nyc” - several pictures of the Bronx campaign office under construction.

Instagram photo by Gabriel Hernández Solano • Feb 17, 2020 at 9:30 PM - grand opening, with the two GND posters in one picture and AOC herself in another.

Instagram photo by Gabriel Hernández Solano • Feb 17, 2020 at 9:31 PM - AOC in front of that GND mural in her campaign office.

M.M.LaFleur on Instagram: “Are you running for public office? Email your credentials (including name, location, and description of the office you’re running for) to [email]readytorun@mmlafleur.com[/email] for more information. #readytorun - for women who want to be well-dressed when running for office.

Loving The Bronx on Instagram: “YES!!!!!!!!! Tables are being installed at Hugh Grant Circle! It has been such a joy to witness this transformation.” Yes, there's an Instagram page called Loving The Bronx (@lovingthebronx) • Instagram photos and videos
 
Twitter can be searched by date and content, and CM, NV, and SH have all posted there about their PR trip, but Instagram is more difficult to search. So I'll list all the Instagram pix in the Congresspeople's Instagram pages:
CM 1 CM 2
NV 1 NV 2 NV 3 NV 4 NV 5
SH 1 SH 2 SH 3 SH 4 - also the highlight story "Puerto Rico"
AOC doesn't have anything similar.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launches reelection campaign as she faces a dozen challengers - Washington Times

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Twitter: "News Flash! This is a key reason I got into the race against @AOC. Families in the Bronx & Queens need leaders who want to bring jobs, not drive them away. [url]https://t.co/iwpv1KzCYt https://t.co/xrlCrHQ7WC" / Twitter[/url] - about that failed Amazon deal.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera on Twitter: "...and celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Amazon NOT opening a headquarters, and a failure to launch 25,000 jobs for Queens! https://t.co/X2FavEQRea" / Twitter - that's the main thing that AOC's opponents have been running on.

AOC herself tells us she has worked her "butt off" for her constituents, and
“I’ve attended hundreds of events in my district, hosted them, you know we do a lot of productive legislative work. And ultimately, I don’t believe that I’m entitled to just live in the House. I feel like I have to earn the right,” she said, adding she welcomed the primary challenge.

But she said she believes she still holds strong support in her district, two years after she unseated a member of the Democratic establishment’s leadership, Rep. Joe Crowley, who had served for decades.
JC didn't take AOC's candidacy seriously until the last month or so of campaigning. He debated her twice, and was absent twice. In one absence, he sent a surrogate, a woman with "slight resemblance" to her.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez appears to have learned from his mistakes, downplaying her own time away from her district and in the national spotlight with Mr. Sanders, saying she has traveled with the 2020 Democratic front-runner only three or four times in the past six months.

“They appreciate my honesty and they appreciate that — I work — I outwork everybody to make sure that they have everything that they can ask for,” she said of her voters.
For BS, she has gone twice to IA, once to NH, and once to CA and NV. In other trips, she has gone with a Congressional delegation to TX, to Copenhagen for COP25, and in vacations to upstate NY and across the nation to CA.
 
Ocasio-Cortez faces 13 challengers – but can anyone unseat her? | US news | The Guardian
“Give her a chance! We knew who she was when we sent her, that she’d make a noise, and making a noise was why we sent her,” said local businessman Abdul Abbas.

“She’s done good things for the Bronx,” concurred Carol Heraldo. “I like how she presents herself as woman, that she’s firm, that she took what she believed and made it real. We don’t see a lot of young people accomplish a lot because they’re afraid – and she’s not afraid.”
AOC refuses to discuss her challengers.
“I think everyone has a right [to run]. I of course won my seat with a primary,” she told the New York Post. “I would never begrudge anyone trying to run in a primary.”
About fundraising
However, candidates on both sides will be looking to raise money from outside the relatively poor, racially diverse district. Ocasio-Cortez’s fame has long transcended the borders of her hardscrabble patch of the Bronx.

“AOC can raise an awful lot of money throughout the country from all sorts of people, but within the district there’s not an awful lot of money to raise,” said Sheinkopf.
I've checked on both AOC and her challengers over at fec.gov, and that is indeed the case for all of them with listed states of origin for campaign contributions.

AOC election challengers slam her far-left agenda: Our district doesn't want socialism | Fox News - with an interview of Badrun Khan, John Cummings, and Scherie Murray on Fox & Friends

AOC’s competition: Meet the candidates running against Ocasio-Cortez | Fox News - 5 Democrats and 8 Republicans

Badrun Khan seems like she's positioning herself as a more moderate version of AOC.

AOC's challengers are campaigning on these themes:
  • Her alleged absence from her district
  • Her opposition to Amazon HQ2 for Long Island City, Queens
  • The expense of what she proposes, like a Green New Deal
  • Her being a "socialist"
They often seem more anti-AOC than supporters of some alternative.
 
MCC, as she may be called, seems like she would be a good fit for the Libertarian Party. But Duverger's law makes it difficult for third parties, so she has to run as a Democrat or as a Republican to get anywhere.

That was the calculation of the founders of Brand New Congress. They decided to create a European-style political party, with a unified platform and unified messaging. But they knew of the track record of third parties in US politics, so the BNC people decided to run their candidates as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, depending on what might be appropriate for where their are running. BNC originally wanted some 400 candidates, but for 2018, they settled on 30, and of these, only one was a Republican and only one an Independent. AOC was their only overall winner.

BNC is trying again in 2020, but with all Democrats, and with more like 40 than 400 candidates.
 
I presume your marriage proposal to this wide eyed wild socialist has been sent? :)

It's adorable that you think socialist is a bad word whilst living on a pension and receiving medical care for yourself and your spouse.

The planet has been dragged, sometimes unwillingly out of poverty, to higher standards of living for most of the planets inhabitants, not by socialism, but by capitalism.

It's adorable that you are a cheerleader for capitalism when it has clearly been socialist policies like medicare and the pension that have given you the quality of life you enjoy today.
 
The View on ABC TV - I slept through her live appearance, but I got a lot of news stories and Twitter clips.

The View on Twitter: "Rep. @AOC welcomes primary challengers running for her Congressional seat: “I will never malign someone for trying to run… this is a democracy.”
“I’ve done exactly what I told my community I was going to do and I think that they were happy with that.” [url]https://t.co/oEHVRqDGEK
https://t.co/pgkaI2u6be" / Twitter[/url]

She suspects that some of the candidates are trying to get attention, especially some Republican ones. They get on Fox News a lot, for instance. I suspect that despite Scherie Murray's attacks on AOC for supposedly wanting to be a big celebrity, that she and other challengers will end up being Fox News celebrities.

The View on Twitter: "Rep. @AOC: "Bernie's released the same amount of medical records as every other presidential candidate."
[MENTION=2]Jo[/MENTION]yVBehar: "They didn't all have a heart attack last year."
AOC: "If folks want more from him I think they should ask more of every single presidential candidate." https://t.co/ZV2mnix21H" / Twitter


AOC claims that BS's campaigning schedule tires her out, and she herself is plenty physically fit. 4 rallies/day, plays basketball with his grandkids.

The View on Twitter: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) to the co-hosts: “Our entire political system revolves, frankly, around rich men, and rich men are not the center of my universe. Working families are.” [url]https://t.co/oEHVRqDGEK https://t.co/0POeuIXQtB" / Twitter[/url]

The View on Twitter: "“The majority of Americans would vote for Bernie Sanders and that’s because of his record.”
Rep. @AOC says when asked if Democratic voters could be more comfortable with a moderate candidate compared to the self-described democratic socialist senator. [url]https://t.co/62iQEXgRIG
https://t.co/ePeVNHe9Yj" / Twitter[/url]

She then described how the US's current form of capitalism is not working for a lot of people. Like insulin prices rising grotesquely high and 60% of working people having incomes less than $40,000/year.

The View on Twitter: "“We are not a moment that is disconnected from our past,” Rep. @AOC says to @WhoopiGoldberg on the progress made by previous generations.
“We are part of a long movement of ancestors and elders that we should always acknowledge.” [url]https://t.co/oEHVRqDGEK
https://t.co/lHY2318jyc" / Twitter[/url]

AOC called Nancy Pelosi the "mama bear" of the Democratic Party, also women like Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, men like "my chairman" Elijah Cummings, "may he rest in peace, and in power". She credited him with centering and uplifting her, in a place that is dominated by seniority.
 
The View on Twitter: "Rep. @AOC says Sen. Sanders inspired her to run for office and explains why she’s endorsing him: “We want to talk about health care... a living wage... women’s rights... he did this when it was least convenient.”
“He was fighting for these things since before I was even born.” https://t.co/rhyJkduAcB" / Twitter


BS has a reputation for being a grumpy old man - someone low in agreeableness. Being low in a'ness helps for disregarding hostile opinions. Rubenzer and Faschingbauer found that most presidents are low in a'ness.

AOC, however, seems high in a'ness, and she credits being a bartender for helping to be low in a'ness when necessary. She also once recalled someone talking about growing "that rhino skin", of having lowered a'ness when necessary. When she showed up last Sept 11 with the rest of the "Squad" and Angela Rye, she compared herself to a little black girl who endured the hatred of white segregationists, and she said that what she goes through is "a hostile environment". Meaning that she has to lower her a'ness so she does not betray her values.

Ξvan Ross Katz on Twitter: "AOC on #TheView moments ago: "Our entire political system revolves frankly around rich men. And rich men are not the center of my universe. Working families are." https://t.co/6oOauOlFl8" / Twitter

Meghan McCain confronts AOC over 'deeply misogynistic' Bernie Sanders supporters - AOL News
"The one thing that connects women on the left and women on the right, at least a lot of guest co-hosts, guests that come on, is the abuse that we have all been subjected to by the Bernie bros. It is by far the most violent, most misogynistic, the most sexist, the most harmful," McCain told AOC, adding that "it’s disgusting and vitriolic."

"How do you feel that he’s attached to this deeply misogynistic and I would go so far as to say violent sector of people?" she asked.

Ocasio-Cortez responded that internet culture can be very toxic and the activity online is "difficult to control."

"I think that to a certain extent we have to always reject hate, reject vitriol, and denounce that kind of behavior," she continued.

The top campaign surrogate for Sanders defended the Vermont senator's efforts to stop the online attacks, adding that Sanders "works very hard ... we send out messaging emails."
Mike Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren have also criticized "Bernie Bros" for online bullying.

The View on Twitter: "When asked about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ reaction to the online attacks made by so-called ‘Bernie Bros,’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says, “We have to always reject hate, reject vitriol, and denounce that kind of behavior.” [url]https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA https://t.co/SN6GUjC9AV" / Twitter[/url]
 
I discovered that I have to sign up with some TV provider to get the full episode, though one won't have to do that a week after the episode premiered - S23E105The View 2/19

I say "TV provider" to include cable and satellite TV companies.

AOC praises Nancy Pelosi as the ‘mama bear of the Democratic Party’ - New York Daily News - "AOC was repeatedly interrupted by applause as she laid out her trademark platform of Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and racial justice."

About Michael Bloomberg,
“The power of his money is not disconnected from his stances on stop and frisk,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Because when you have that much money and you purchase elections, you no longer have that sense of accountability to the people who voted for you.”

'You lost me': Whoopi Goldberg chides AOC on The View for 'dismissing' old people

Whoopi Goldberg confronts AOC over comments about older Democrats: 'Bothered the hell out of me' | Fox News
"I was very happy when you were elected because I thought it was a great step ... and then you lost me," Goldberg told Ocasio-Cortez, "because it felt like you were saying to people like me that I was too old and didn't do enough."

Ocasio-Cortez quickly jumped in to deny that, but Goldberg continued. "Well, that's what it sounded like and so that has bothered me because I feel like I love young people .. but you're on my shoulders."

"Absolutely," Ocasio-Cortez responded. Goldberg added: "And we have carried this fight."
WG then mentioned Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi.
 
Charlotte Alter on Twitter: ".@AOC was deeply shaped by her trip to Standing Rock, which she livestreamed in 2016.
These previously unreported videos provide a glimpse into how she came to her ideas about environmental justice, and how she learned to use social media.
From my book: https://t.co/IFe2v8GYwK" / Twitter


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Facebook Videos of Her Trip to Standing Rock Reveal Her Political Awakening | Time
After Donald Trump’s victory in November 2016, New York City was in a deep funk. The subway was full of people wincing at news alerts on their phones; coffee shops were full of depressed conversations about what had gone wrong and why they hadn’t seen it coming.
This despite a certain favorite-son factor.

After meeting with local leaders in Flint, Alexandria and Maria were horrified. “I was really asking a lot of questions, trying to figure out, like, why did this breakdown happen? And where did it start? Were local politicians bought out? Was it the state? Is it a bureaucratic thing?” Alexandria told her Facebook Live audience, which had by then grown to a couple hundred viewers. “And it seems as though, like, when you connect some of these disparate thoughts, it all does come back down to the influence of money in politics.”

It reminded her of why they were doing this in the first place. “You’re always going to hear: ‘Protesters are rabble-rousers, they’re troublemakers, protest doesn’t do anything, it’s ineffective,’’ she said. “Protest galvanizes public sentiment, and when public sentiment is galvanized to a certain extent, then that turns into public pressure, and then when public pressure is applied to a certain extent, then we get policy change. That is how protest works.”
AOC is an activist at heart. Even at the present day, she intends her campaign offices to be available for activism when her re-election campaign ends.
On the fourth day, they arrived at Standing Rock. It was dark when they got to camp. Somebody was playing the flute. Everybody made eye contact with them, and strangers gave them long hugs. It was the most intimate mass gathering that Alexandria and Maria had ever seen. They were given a tent and a wood-burning stove and zero-degree sleeping bags. The organizers thanked them for coming, and asked if they needed any clothes or food. There were boxes filled with donations: headlamps, portable batteries, and food all piled up together next to signs that said “Please Take Care of One Another” and “Take What You Need.” When Alexandria’s socks got soaked through, somebody offered her a fresh pair.

There was no money or trade or bartering, and the cell phone service was bad, which meant it was difficult for them to livestream from the camp itself. When they got a signal, Alexandria and Maria told their viewers the camp was totally clean, even though nobody was in charge of trash.
 From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs - Karl Marx

It's rather hard to do that in a broader society, it must be pointed out. This was a small-scale society that was united in its commitment to its cause.
Alexandria’s journey to Standing Rock, she told me later, was the first time she realized just how much power was concentrated in the hands of fossil-fuel companies.

...
“When you actually see an issue up close, it truly changes the urgency and the intensity with which you see that problem,” she said. “For some folks they may have a relative that got addicted to opioids; for other people it may be because their house got foreclosed on in 2008. And for me it was my experience at Standing Rock.”
 Dakota Access Pipeline protests
 
The planet has been dragged, sometimes unwillingly out of poverty, to higher standards of living for most of the planets inhabitants, not by socialism, but by capitalism.

It's adorable that you are a cheerleader for capitalism when it has clearly been socialist policies like medicare and the pension that have given you the quality of life you enjoy today.

There's small s socialism, then there's capital letter S socialism Venezuela or Cuban style. Every nation on Earth, no matter what ideology it's government follows has by necessity some socialism in place like public transport, which in most cases must be subsided by government. The same with Universal health and pension funds. But it's light years away from what the Bern and other extreme lefties in the Dem party like AOC are espousing. That type of socialism frightens the living beejesus out of ordinary, middle class people everywhere.
 
The same with Universal health and pension funds. But it's light years away from what the Bern and other extreme lefties in the Dem party like AOC are espousing. That type of socialism frightens the living beejesus out of ordinary, middle class people everywhere.

hehe, ok, so can you explain exactly how what Bernie and AOC is different from the health and pension systems seen in pretty much every European country? And back it up with actual supporting evidence?


this should be amusing if it isn't outright doged.
 
The same with Universal health and pension funds. But it's light years away from what the Bern and other extreme lefties in the Dem party like AOC are espousing. That type of socialism frightens the living beejesus out of ordinary, middle class people everywhere.

hehe, ok, so can you explain exactly how what Bernie and AOC is different from the health and pension systems seen in pretty much every European country? And back it up with actual supporting evidence?


this should be amusing if it isn't outright doged.

It's been asked before. I don't like your chances in getting a coherent answer.
 
The same with Universal health and pension funds. But it's light years away from what the Bern and other extreme lefties in the Dem party like AOC are espousing. That type of socialism frightens the living beejesus out of ordinary, middle class people everywhere.

hehe, ok, so can you explain exactly how what Bernie and AOC is different from the health and pension systems seen in pretty much every European country? And back it up with actual supporting evidence?


this should be amusing if it isn't outright doged.

It's been asked before. I don't like your chances in getting a coherent answer.

Wasn't expecting one. Usually don't engage with those I don't expect any kind of real response from, but thought whatever tortured reasoning he came up with would be interesting, if it isn't a boring outright dodge.
 
It's been asked before. I don't like your chances in getting a coherent answer.

Wasn't expecting one. Usually don't engage with those I don't expect any kind of real response from, but thought whatever tortured reasoning he came up with would be interesting, if it isn't a boring outright dodge.
I don't read his posts for information, but for the Oscar Wilde-esque wit and sarcasm. ;)
 
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "In a time when ~60% of American workers make less than $40,000 a year, billionaires should not exist." / Twitter
In a time when ~60% of American workers make less than $40,000 a year, billionaires should not exist.

Also, billionaires don’t have a billion dollars because they “work” thousands of times harder than the teacher or the single mom.

They are billionaires because the stock market makes that money for them, which relies on profiteering off insulin, low wages, scrapped jobs, etc.

(& if not this way, acquiring a billion dollars can also happen via monopoly power, low wages, rent-seeking behavior, not paying fair share of taxes, etc)

We need worker-centered policies that reign in Wall Street and value work - including a TON of unvalued and undervalued work, like caregiving.

The cost of system that concentrates a billion dollars in the hands of few powerful people is massive, devastating income inequality.

MYSTIC7 on Twitter: "@AOC Ironic that the platform you’re using to say all this is created by now-billionaires who effectively helped in humanity’s greatest instantaneous global connection via internet, an accomplishment worth billions🤷*♂️ & by tweeting you’re supporting them and part of the problem, no?" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Ironically, the reason many tech platforms have created billionaires is bc they track you without your knowledge, amass your personal data& sell it without your express consent.
You don’t own your data, & you should. And btw, the internet was created w/ publicly funded research. https://t.co/dcCzZKmbzh" / Twitter


Christina Sommers 🧢 on Twitter: "Can someone tell her about pensions. https://t.co/0uNN2NEnwo" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Yes, let’s talk about pensions - like how private equity groups load a ton of risk from unethical practices on the pensions of teachers, nurses, & public servants - so that when a bubble pops, it’s working people that are left holding the bag. [url]https://t.co/RZuJ25qEya https://t.co/4GzuPZETcr" / Twitter[/url]
 
Back
Top Bottom