Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[lpetrich]

Lauren Kwei Speaks Out: OnlyFans Medic Talks in Exclusive Interview - Rolling Stone
“I don’t think they knew going into it that I was willing to put up a fight,” says Lauren Kwei in an exclusive interview. “I don’t think they knew who they were dealing with.”

New York Post Doxxes, Shames Medic Lauren Kwei for Having OnlyFans - Rolling Stone
The real shame here is that the 23-year-old couldn’t survive off her salary as a medical worker — not that she turned to the picture sharing app, as millions of Americans have done during the pandemic

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Sex work is work.

The federal gov has done almost nothing to help people in months. We must pass stimulus checks, UI, small biz relief, hospital funding, etc.

Keep the focus of shame there, not on marginalizing people surviving a pandemic without help. https://t.co/eYib7310Rs" / Twitter

 

[Derec]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Sex work is work.

I wonder if she is really serious about that or if she, like most leftists (including on here) believes that men who hire sex workers should be arrested and prosecuted.

 

[lpetrich]

Cristian Benavides on Twitter: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has launched a free virtual homework helper program for her district.

As families struggle with online learning the one hour tutoring sessions per week are helping students to not fall behind.

@PIX11News @AOC https://t.co/eoIb4wHZzs" / Twitter with some video

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "I am SO PROUD of our families, students, & volunteers stepping up to support our Homework Helpers program.

Normally, 1-on-1 tutoring is a luxury mostly reserved for the privileged. But community volunteers are changing that, helping so many families along the way.

Thank you!" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Sex work is work.

I wonder if she is really serious about that or if she, like most leftists (including on here) believes that men who hire sex workers should be arrested and prosecuted.

I haven't come across what her position is on the "Nordic model", as it's sometimes called.

jeremy scahill on Twitter: "I talked to @AOC about Medicare for All, the battle for the future of the Democratic Party, red-baiting and the 2020 election, Biden’s emerging Cabinet, disaster profiteering in Puerto Rico, the weaponizing of the Espionage Act, and more https://t.co/aGdpcFqx6H" / Twitter
noting
Intercepted: AOC on Ending the Pelosi Era

AOC called Mitch McConnell's opposition to direct aid "barbaric", and she conceded that Trump wants some direct aid. She thinks that a lot of Congresspeople feel a lack of urgency. I think that that is because they are in a comfortable position, being upper middle class or upper class. That reminds me of a theory that I've seen about why elites are often unwilling to recognize problems in their societies until it is too late for them. They are too comfortable to be directly hurt by such problems. Sort of like a cartoon about a boat leaking and someone saying "Glad it's not leaking at my end".

She is very critical of the Democratic Congressional leadership. Not much effort to groom successors. Though she herself bows out. "I'm not ready", she says. Someone like Barbara Lee might be good, however.

AOC says that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to go.

A reason she ran was because she felt gaslit about pundits on TV saying how great the economy was and how great Obamacare is.

Some people have suggested that AOC lead a boycott of NP unless she agrees to a floor vote on Medicare for All. But she doesn't think it worth doing. There may not be enough votes for M4A, for starters. There is also a rule called PAYGO "pay as you go" - any new spending must be balanced with equivalent tax raises and/or spending cuts. This "austerity politics", as she calls it, gets in the way of M4A.

It's possible to get PAYGO waivers, and military spending gets such waivers all the time.

 

[Swammerdami]

Is the Boston educated economist cum barmaid not understanding the difference between a wealth tax and an income tax?

I think that she may have made a mistake there. As to being a "barmaid", I thought that working people are supposed to be the salt of the Earth.
... But according to right-wing ideology, the richer one is, the more deserving one is.

Estate taxes are wealth taxes and, speaking generally, progressive income tax is a sort of wealth tax. If minor misspeakings are disqualifying, then it is the Trump terrorists who have definitely lost!

"Cum barmaid"?? Derec's posts do not appear for me unless someone quotes him; is this what he's on about now? While most top politicians in the Trumpist/GOP faction were born with well over average wealth, many were also hard-working. I don't know who Derec idolizes but Richard Nixon and Dennis Hastert — two Republicans respected enough to rise to the pinnacles of power — both worked hard as youngsters in their family business; Nixon woke up at 4 am to do chores while in high school. Perhaps hard-working Republicans are an exception, but are these two examples exempt from criticism because their parents owned the store where kid worked hard? (If Derec produces an intelligible reply, please quote him for me.)

"But according to right-wing ideology, the richer one is, the more deserving one is."
I wish I'd bookmarked all the amazing quotes I've seen in recent years. GWB and Forbes magazine are both on record as admiring wealth (and wealth inequality) and wanting to further enrich wealthy people, regardless of the source of wealth. Big-time drug dealers are just as worthy of Republican largesse as executives or inventors!

 

[Derec]

Estate taxes are wealth taxes and, speaking generally, progressive income tax is a sort of wealth tax.

An income tax is obviously not a wealth tax. You are slightly warmer with the estate tax, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Estate tax is about transfer of wealth, not wealth itself. It is, like other forms of taxation, assessed when money changes ownership either upon death or as a gift during the lifetime. A wealth tax would tax same wealth over and over again, every year.

"Cum barmaid"??

Too bad you have me on ignore, so I can't heal your confusion.
Cum

Derec's posts do not appear for me unless someone quotes him;

Your loss, dude!

 

[Derec]

I haven't come across what her position is on the "Nordic model", as it's sometimes called.

Which makes me nervous. Same with Kamala Harris seemingly embracing legalization of sex work last year, without really spelling out what she actually means by that.

She is very critical of the Democratic Congressional leadership. Not much effort to groom successors. Though she herself bows out. "I'm not ready", she says. Someone like Barbara Lee might be good, however.

Well, Joe Crowley was groomed for leadership, but he was primaried by *looks at notes* AOC.

AOC says that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to go.

Hey-ho, hey-ho.
Truly, Pelosi is so old she caught the Gettysburg address live, so she has a point there. I would prefer somebody like Tim Ryan.
He recently talked about how Democrats have a very weak national brand and that Biden won because he ran on brand of Biden. That explains why so many downballot Dems failed.
And the debates about socialism and "defund the police" .
If Democrats want to be the party of the little guy, they must realize that the little guy likes police far more than people demolishing his local Target or occupying his neighborhood because some dude on that block refuses to pay his mortgage. The activists and activist-politicians like AOC were a heavy anchor around national Dems' necks.

A reason she ran was because she felt gaslit about pundits on TV saying how great the economy was and how great Obamacare is.

Obamacare is much better than what we had before it. The economy really was pretty good before the pandemic.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC mentioned that in the Democratic Party, heads of committees get their positions not only by seniority, but by how much money they raised for the party. She mentioned something she found shocking: a document listing how much money to raise for each position.

She then noted how Biden has lots of Obama appointees, and how Obama had lots of Clinton ones. Trump got into power because of his disdain for the political establishment. He promised to "drain the swamp". But he completely failed in that. He didn't even try, and he introduced plenty of swampishness of his own.

"Electability", it seems, involves supporting Wall-Street bailouts, military adventures, and espionage on citizens. Bernie Sanders got smeared as un-electable. Civl-rights activists often got red-baited. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Ella Bakers, ... which is strange, since it's unlikely that Rev. MLK would consider himself the moral equivalent of a drug dealer.

She says that centrist and conservative Democrats have to blame activist slogans like "Defund the Police" for their losses, because otherwise they would have to accept that bad campaigning and suchlike are the causes of their failures. I've crunched the numbers, and I think that AOC is right. Supporting M4A and a GND has been helpful rather than harmful, even if not by very much. I was careful to correct for ideology and district partisanship when I did that analysis.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC then described how Puerto Rico is a test run for "disaster capitalism" in the form of the PROMESA Act, something that takes away local fiscal powers. Something similar was done in Flint, MI, she says. She suspects that lack of assistance to states and localities are a preparation for applying this model more broadly: deny them assistance in a time of need, then use their bankruptcies as an excuse to turn them over to Wall Street vulture capitalists.

Then the interview got into the Espionage Act and treatment of whistleblowers. AOC seemed to think that pardoning Ed Snowden should be considered.

About soon-to-be-President Biden's appointees, she is encouraged by Janet Yellen and Xavier Becerra, and she says that Biden's Cabinet is more progressive than Obama's. Kamala Harris has positioned herself very well, she says.


Ryan Grim on Twitter: "AOC talking to the public as if it is made up of thinking adults is a bold strategy, Cotton https://t.co/CWp4IlvtpI" / Twitter

Then
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "A lot of political ‘experts’ like to claim that “if you’re explaining, you’re losing,” but I’ve always thought that was misguided.

Sure - if your explanation is boring & bad then yeah, you’re losing.

But if it’s compelling and good, then the more you educate, the more you win." / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "(Also the reporter I’m quote tweeting is also being sarcastic and believes we should have real discourse, please don’t ratio )" / Twitter
To ratio a tweet is to give more responses than likes. The ratio is responses/likes.

 

[ZiprHead]

Which makes me nervous. Same with Kamala Harris seemingly embracing legalization of sex work last year, without really spelling out what she actually means by that.

Are there federal laws against sex work? I've never heard of any. They seem to be all state based. As AOC and KH are federal legislators, I don't see them having any power to change state regulation.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC Instagrammed late yesterday about getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot: http://www.instagram.com/aoc
Content warning: it shows her receiving the shot, so if you find such a thing hard to watch, be warned.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Some ppl say a cosponsor list isn’t “genuine” ..." / Twitter

Some ppl say a cosponsor list isn’t “genuine” & forcing a vote, even if it fails, will add clarity by “putting ppl on the record” (even though cosponsor list IS on the record).

Problem is w/ a GOP Senate, ppl can still disingenuously vote bc they know it’s going to a graveyard.

So now you’ve actually made life harder for organizers bc if you suspect a cosponsor isn’t a “genuine” supporter, you now just gave them a chance to cover when stakes are low - so now they can ward off pressure

Pay attn: actual M4A grassroots organizers haven’t pushed for thiss

Grassroots organizing & pressure campaigns take an insane amount of work & preparation

Key organizing moments may look like random uprisings & viral internet moments to some, but they aren’t- they are result of years of targeted organizing & ppls’ mvmts, aided by present moment

If you want a model on how we can *successfully* secure floor votes on progressive leg, examine how the grassroots JUST successfully forced (and passed!) a $15/hr min wage in the House even over Conservative Dem objections:

New Jersey Democrats Back Off Vote to Gut Minimum Wage Law - "After passing a $15 minimum wage, Democrats are pushing a bill that would suspend scheduled wage increases based on changes in unemployment or retail sales."

She's saying that it's a bad idea to try to force a vote on M4A.

 

[blastula]

Close your eyes lpetrich, I know you wouldn't want to see some stranger poking her.



But that caption is fake news. The Pfizer vaccine starts working less than 2 weeks after the first dose.

 

[lpetrich]

aída chávez on Twitter: "NEWS: @AOC says Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer need to go.

But the left needs a plan so “nefarious forces” don’t fill the leadership vacuum with “something even worse.” https://t.co/jEDstOOWur" / Twitter
then
Steadman™ on Twitter: "I mean besides the decorum politics of "should she say it," the idea that Dems need new House leadership but the pipeline is messy with no clear replacements is an idea even shared by more moderate members" / Twitter

Sean S on Twitter: "@AsteadWesley Elissa Slotkin literally said the same exact thing to interviewers." / Twitter - I'd have to track that down

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Yep, journalists have asked me (and others!) this same question for two years and I’ve answered the same way almost every time but for some reason today it’s “news.” (It’s not news)

I am however guilty of the cardinal political sin of clearly answering a journalists’ question" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

☇RiotWomenn☇ on Twitter: "@marcorubio “I mean, this is unreal. Again, this guy is a con artist. He’s always making things up. No one holds him accountable for it.”

@marcorubio https://t.co/mfLjj5pvvJ" / Twitter
and
☇RiotWomenn☇ on Twitter: "@marcorubio The GHOST OF 'LIL @marcorubio 2016

"For years to come, there are many people on the right, in the media & voters at large that are gonna be having to explain & justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Trump, because this is not gonna end well." https://t.co/hzVU0ACohH" / Twitter

Marco Rubio was completely right about Trump's character.

Marco Rubio on Twitter: "Biden talks about unity and healing, but you want to know what they really think? Read how the person he wants as the next WH deputy chief of staff called Republicans in Congress a bunch of f***ers" / Twitter

Top Biden aide walks back expletive description of Republicans - POLITICO

The mea culpa came in a virtual conversation Thursday with veteran Democratic operatives Stephanie Cutter and Teddy Goff, during which O’Malley Dillon acknowledged she “used some words that I probably could have chosen better” when speaking with author Glennon Doyle for a Glamour magazine interview published Tuesday.

...
“In the primary, people would mock him, like, ‘You think you can work with Republicans?’” O’Malley Dillon told Glamour. “I’m not saying they’re not a bunch of f---ers. Mitch McConnell is terrible. But this sense that you couldn’t wish for that, you couldn’t wish for this bipartisan ideal? He rejected that.”

Addressing the controversy Thursday, O’Malley Dillon argued that “the point that I was really making” in the Glamour interview “is an incredibly important point. And that really is about the president-elect and why he was supported by over 81 million people, and what they were looking for.” She went on to restate Biden’s “belief that we can get things done, and we can get them done if we come together.”

Kayleigh McEnany on Twitter: "Biden Campaign Manager called us “F***ers” !!!

She can try to walk back, but this says volumes about her boss who calls for “unity” while shouting that we are “assaulting democracy:”

They think we are deplorable, irredeemable “F***ers”. SICK https://t.co/J9sNvrlSNa" / Twitter

Dana Loesch on Twitter: ""F**kers" is the new "unity," apparently." / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: ".@marcorubio you stood by in total silence when your GOP colleague called a Congresswoman a “f— b—“ on the Capitol steps in front of press.

You weren’t big enough to speak then, & you don’t get to sob now.

BTW that is the right word for those who fleece & scam working families. https://t.co/qIERPlV7HR" / Twitter

"These are the same people saying that we can't have tuition-free public colleges because there's no money... when these motherfuckers are only paying $750 a year in taxes." - AOC in Vanity Fair

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Tired of these people encouraging, ignoring, and excusing their own abusive behavior for years to then turn around and act like the biggest coddled babies in the world.

People are hungry and this is what you’re mad about. Take that energy to supporting retroactive UI & checks" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Bloomberg Technology on Twitter: "Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills. ..." / Twitter

Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills. More than 4,000 are on food stamps. Some are even homeless.

Amazon opens U.S. warehouses at the rate of about one a day. It’s transforming the logistics industry from a career destination with the promise of middle-class wages into entry-level work. Amazon has hired more than 250,000 people to keep up with surging demand from home-bound shoppers. Risking infection while in a crowded warehouse for $15 an hour has many workers asking if they’re getting shortchanged.

Among economists, there’s a debate about whether the company is creating a kind of monopsony. A Bloomberg analysis of government labor statistics reveals that in community after community where Amazon sets up shop, warehouse wages tend to fall. While Amazon’s arrival coincides with rising pay in some southern and low-wage precincts, the opposite is true in wealthier parts of the country, including the northeast and Midwest.

After 20 years of trial and error, Amazon has turned its fulfillment centers into finely tuned assembly lines, often grueling workplaces. Workers receive about one day of training and are put on the line to see if they have what it takes. We interviewed 42 employees in 20 states. Some enjoy the work and say news reports of warehouse travails can be overblown. But most say there’s little opportunity to move up in an environment where a handful of people per shift oversee an entire facility.

Jeff Bezos, whose wealth grew about 65% this year as his company posted record sales and profits, has so far managed to keep unions out of his U.S. operations. Now that’s being challenged.

noting
Amazon (AMZN) Job Pay Rate Leaves Some Warehouse Employees Struggling - Bloomberg

Amazon Has Turned a Middle-Class Warehouse Career Into a McJob

Despite a starting wage well above the federal minimum, the company is dragging down pay in the logistics industry and bracing for a fight with unions.

AOC:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "This is why “Amazon jobs” aren’t it & we should instead focus our public investments + incentives on small businesses, public infrastructure, & worker cooperatives that actually support dignified life.

A “job” that leaves you homeless & on food stamps isn’t a job. It’s a scam." / Twitter
She is correct about Amazon-warehouse jobs, but Amazon-headquarters jobs are another story -- people in cushy office buildings.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "“A Bloomberg analysis of government labor statistics reveals that in community after community where Amazon sets up shop, warehouse wages tend to fall.” https://t.co/bF9WaTCuiY" / Twitter

I concede that I do sometimes shop Amazon, but mostly Amazon Kindle -- delivering e-books to my computer.

 

[Derec]

Bloomberg Technology on Twitter: "Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills. ..." / Twitter

Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills. More than 4,000 are on food stamps. Some are even homeless.

Amazon pays more than other warehouse jobs actually. So why single them out?
As to food stamps, eligibility for SNAP does not only depend on one's pay but also on family size. 4k workers are a small minority of all Amazon warehouse employees that number in hundreds of thousands and they probably have a bunch of kids and/or work part time. Do you think that every job should pay so much than nobody could conceivably be on food stamps? If you have a household of five, you would need to make almost $40k before becoming ineligible for SNAP. Have 8 people? You'd have to make over $57k.

It is obviously a ridiculous metric.

As to the homeless, out of 100,000s of employees an unspecified "some" are homeless. Hardly surprising due to law of large numbers, and is likely not Amazon's fault.

This is just an anti-Amazon screed, nothing more. Note that these union job that Bloomberg praises are obscenely overpriced and would make products much more expensive. The reason unionization in the US is going down all the time is that unions demand way too much making businesses they control uncompetitive. Best example is Detroit carmakers burdened by union contracts not being able to compete adequately against competition from overseas.

 

[Derec]

Are there federal laws against sex work?

There is FOSTA/SESTA, a law ostensibly targeting human trafficking, but since it makes no distinction between trafficking and real sex work, it is a de facto anti sex work law.
There is also the much older Mann Act.

Apart from that, national politicians have soft influence going beyond their official baileywick.

 

[lpetrich]

Pro-Israel progressive Ritchie Torres joining Congress, not 'Squad'

Torres, who has served on the City Council since 2013, says he was moved by trips to Israel in 2015 and 2017.

“I remember meeting a family in Sderot. And I had no concept of what it was like to live in a city that lives under the fear of rocket fire,” Torres recalled. “I’m going to make the case that the progressive position is a two-state solution and promoting dignity for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Ocasio-Cortez takes direct shot at Pelosi and Schumer - POLITICO

Schumer, who is 70 years old, was reelected as leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus last month, and Pelosi is positioned to be reelected as speaker in January — all but ensuring the House Democratic Caucus will continue to be governed by the same octogenarian triumvirate that has occupied the party’s top three leadership roles for the past 14 years: the 80-year-old Pelosi, 81-year-old House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and 80-year-old House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

I remember people making fun of the Soviet Union's gerontocratic leadership in the last years of that nation. But the US Democratic Party is now suffering from that.

Though strictly speaking it should be a triumhominate - Pelosi is female, while triumvirate implies all-male.

Someone who agrees with AOC:
Democratic congresswoman backs AOC's call for 'new leadership' | Fox News
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-VA-07

Spanberger, who won her re-election bid in November after flipping the seat blue in the 2018 midterms, made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC’s "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Asked by Mitchell whether she agreed with Ocasio-Cortez that the party needs new leadership, Spanberger said: "We’re a broad tent party. I have longed maintained that we need to have new voices and new leadership across the board."

 

[lpetrich]

Talk about drama llama.
Kathleen Rice beats out AOC for spot on coveted House committee - POLITICO - "The fight over a seat on the Energy and Commerce panel carries implications for policy and power in the next Congress."

That's the Energy and Commerce Committee. Kathleen Rice is D-NY-03 in north-central Long Island. Five of the seats in that committee were open, and the House leadership decided on four of them. That left one seat open, and AOC and KR competed for it.

The panel launched into an intense round of speeches on each candidate, with several Democrats speaking up to lobby against Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman member and social media star who is seen as a political threat by many of the caucus’s moderates for her far-left policies. On the video call, several Democrats called out Ocasio-Cortez’s efforts to help liberal challengers take out their own incumbents, as well as her refusal to pay party campaign dues.

"I'm taking into account who works against other members in primaries and who doesn't,” Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said on the call, according to multiple sources. Cuellar successfully fended off a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, who Ocasio-Cortez supported.

Most senior Democrats did not want to take sides, and most of the New York (city? state?) delegation supported both of them. Jerry Nadler supported AOC, something that she advertised as support by the NY delegation.

KR won 46-13.

The other new members were Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.).

Rice, who had been expected to get the seat, attempted to block Pelosi from leading House Democrats in the 116th Congress and is now seen as a crucial vote for the speaker this time around since Democrats have a slimmer majority. It’s a big turnaround for the Long Island Democrat and former prosecutor: after she spoke out against Pelosi’s speakership, Rice was denied a seat on her preferred committee — Judiciary — just two years ago.

But Ocasio-Cortez also made a hard push, and was the first member to ask the New York delegation for its backing. Multiple New Yorkers, including Rep.-elect Mondaire Jones, spoke up in her favor during the Steering meeting.