Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[Derec]

AOC is now in Chile, and she met with officials there, like Camila Vallejo Dowling (@camilantoniamaranta) • Instagram photos and videos
Ministra de la Secretaría General de Gobierno @voceriadegobierno

AOC is meeting with a card-carrying commie?

 

[Derec]

AOC also met with the mayor of Santiago,  Irací Hassler and said about doing so that she felt pleased to be around politicians around her age, a sentiment she also had in Brazil, instead of politicians a generation older.

Another communist. Do we need to fire up the helicopters again?

AOC met with President Gabriel Boric

Boric Acid is not only a far leftist with communist in his cabinet, he is also an antisemite.

 

[Derec]

AOC and the Squad’s List of Left-Wing Accomplishments Is Quite Long by Branko Marcetic in Jacobin

Continuing the theme, Jacobin is a commie rag.

Then arguing that her legislative record is not completely empty. Like Bernie Sanders, AOC introduces a lot of amendments.

How many of them pass. Especially the more extreme/socialist ones?
For example the opioid crisis and MDMA research can find allies outside the squady socialist fringe.

 

[Derec]

As Peru’s security services cracked down on anti-government protests that followed the December impeachment and arrest of leftist ex-president Pedro Castillo, Ocasio-Cortez and four other Squad members were among the twenty House progressives who signed a letter in January this year calling on President Joe Biden to end security assistance to the country.

What happened there bears further discussion. You had a leftist president who did not have congressional support. He tried to disband Congress when they were about to impeach his ass.
Peru’s President Tried to Dissolve Congress. By Day’s End, He Was Arrested.
Imagine what AOC et al, not to mention this forum, would say if Trump had tried to disband Congress when he was about to be impeached. But it's ok if you are a leftist.

This past July, six weeks after further US troops and weapons landed in the country, Ocasio-Cortez introduced another NDAA amendment, this one suspending Pentagon funding for Peru until certain conditions were met.

And what conditions would those be?

All or some of the Squad have signed onto letters: condemning Donald Trump’s sanctions on and threats of military intervention in Venezuela;

How surprising that she supports bus driver's disastrous regime. Although things have improved somewhat there - the inflation rate is only 400% ...

calling for the lifting of sanctions on the country, as well as on Cuba and Iran;

Sigh. Why do US leftists always support our enemies?

Likewise, she was one of only four members of both the House and Senate to sign a letter in 2021 calling on Biden to pressure Saudi Arabia to lift its deadly blockade of Yemen,

But no pressure on Houthis and Iran? Why?

and one of only five to sign on to a Tlaib-led letter calling on Biden’s attorney general to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Do Tlaib and AOC think he is innocent of any crimes or do they just support him because he is opposed to the US?

Nice to have someone like that in Congress.

Why?

 

[Derec]

Then about Israel. AOC fumbled an answer in an interview not long after she won her first primary.

She certainly did. She is in an unenviable position. Her hard left allies hate Israel, but she is also from NY, where there are many Jews.

Critics justifiably criticize Ocasio-Cortez’s “present” vote on Iron Dome funding in 2021.

It was kind of spineless.

But this assessment should be balanced out by acknowledging her other, similarly symbolic actions that cut the other way. That includes her refusal to vote to condemn the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign while cosponsoring a pro-BDS resolution, her labeling Israel an “apartheid state” as early as 2021, as well as her and the Squad’s recent decisions to boycott the Israeli president’s speech to Congress and be one of only nine to vote against a resolution declaring Israel is neither an apartheid nor racist state. All of these are politically risky actions, especially when pro-Israel money has emerged as a real threat to reelection.

Not to mention morally deplorable. BDSers want to destroy Israel and replace it with so-called "Palestine" "from the River to the Sea".

Even when Ocasio-Cortez has fallen short on the issue, she’s shown that she’s responsive to criticism from the Left, as when she backed out of a Yitzhak Rabin memorial event after an outcry from BDS activists.

I think that she does not have very strong personal convictions on this issue, and lets herself be led by the likes of Tlaib and Omar.

That’s not to mention the contributions other Squad members have made to shifting the Israel-Palestine discourse in the United States, which is slowly but surely turning toward the Left.

And the leftist position is to support Islamists like Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc. that want to destroy Israel, regularly murder Israeli civilians (they murdered a father and son just a couple of days ago) and oppress their own people besides.

Squad members have been willing to work with Republicans about withdrawing troops from Syria and Somalia, Republicans like Matt Gaetz.

Because it is preferable that Syria be dominated by Russia and Iran? There aren't really many troops inside these countries - it is mostly air strikes against ISIS or Al Shabab targets.

AOC is one of the few signers of the Ukraine pro-diplomacy letter who continues to publicly stand behind that letter, and the entire Squad voted against sending cluster munitions to that country.

"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'nice doggie' until you can find a rock" - Will Rogers
"The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank" - Lt. Cmd. Montgomery Scott

"Most recently, as anti-China fervor has taken over even progressive Democrats, the Squad were the only seven members of Congress to vote against a bill escalating Trump’s erosion of the One China policy, and all but one voted against creating the GOP’s anti-China select committee."

"One China policy" is basically saying that Taiwan belongs to China no matter what people in Taiwan want. Same for Hong Kong, whose autonomy is being eroded by Beijing.
What's next? "One Russia" policy? Putin is trying to enforce that right now.

The Pandemic has shown that we are too dependent on China for our supply chain anyway, and should pivot away regardless of foreign policy considerations. China also emits the most CO₂ is probably #1 in other pollutants like particulates, SO₂ and heavy metals due to their heavy reliance on coal.

 

[Derec]

So what? It's only right-wingers who like caricatures like being in favor of every regulation there is.

It is not a caricature that in general left-wingers/progressives support heavy-handed regulation.
Although it may be something of a caricature that AOC is a ditzy airhead, this excessive interest in skin care products is not exactly helping dispel that image of her.

Abandoned-property law has been around since the Twelve Tables of Rome,

But no such laws apply here, as the courts ruled in favor of the homeowners and against the squatters.

Moms 4 Housing had brought the issue to court, but a judge ruled in favor of Wedgewood. Sheriff deputies arrived in the early hours of 15 January to evict them, arresting two of the mothers and two of their supporters.

It is the executive in the form of Gov. Goodhair that intervened to force the sale to the squatters.

at least, and here was a house that was abandoned in all but name.

Was it? In what way? A dwelling being unoccupied is not the same as being abandoned. Many homes for sale or getting fixed up for sale are unoccupied for a time. They are not abandoned. From the article:

The house had sat vacant for more than two years before it was purchased in July at a foreclosure auction for $501,078 by Wedgewood Properties, a real estate investment company with a history of buying up foreclosed-upon houses cheaply, evicting the tenants, renovating the homes and then putting them back on the market at much higher prices.

Note that the two years it sat vacant before Wedgewood bought it do not count as it being abandoned by them, obviously. And even the article acknowledges that the intent of the owners is to renovate the house and resell it.

Also, this article is from 2020. How was the thing concluded?

This whole thing reminded me of the Red House fiasco in Portland. A black family took out a mortgage on a house they owned. They stopped paying it, and instead of surrendering it, the local #BLMers occupied the whole neighborhood, forcing the rightful owners to give up the attempt to foreclose on the deadbeats.

Increasingly, private property rights are under siege in this country. Sometimes (as in Portland) literally.

 

[Derec]

Why not use such "reasoning" on false accusations of rape?

What does that have to do with anything? Why are you derailing?
My reasoning, which you had cut off in your quote, was that, yes, it does seem that Brazilian police kill more people (and more blacks) than US police. However, murder rate is also >3x higher in Brazil, so you'd expect police to shoot perps at a higher rate as well.

She might have wanted to say something like "Latinos are black, Latinos are Native, Latinos are European", thus acknowledging their mixed heritage, as she went on to do with some other wording.

Would've, could've, should've.

 

[Derec]

And what if structural racism is the reason that “blacks [sic] commit more crimes” ?

Why "[sic]"? What's wrong with "blacks", or "whites" for that matter?
Even if "structural racism" (however you want to define it) was the reason for higher crime rate among blacks, that is not the reason to give those criminals a pass. "Equity" in sentences or prison population should not be the goal. What should be the goal is equality before the law.

YOU'RE BLAMING INNOCENT WHITE PEOPLE FOR THE TERRIBLE THINGS BLACK PEOPLE DO!

This, but unironically and without shouting.
People are responsible for their own actions. Blaming white people for the actions of black people is racist.

 

[lpetrich]

Recepción en palacio de La Moneda … | Instagram
Account: chileconboric -- Chile con Boric -- Chile with Boric

Reception at La Moneda Palace to the Committee of Democratic parliamentarians headed by Alexandria ocasio-cortez @aoc who pledged to request the total declassification of the background on the 1973 civic-military coup against President-elect Salvador Allende Gossens.

#50años #50añosgolpedeestado

She visited Vice President Francia Márquez, the first Afro-Colombian one. FM started out as an activist, as AOC herself did.

VP Márquez began as climate activist, where a her work gained international acclaim for successfully shutting down illegal mining in her community of La Toma, and protecting the Afro-Colombian community from government attempts to evict them from their ancestral land.

Latin America is the most dangerous place in the world for land protectors and climate defenders, who are regularly killed by hitmen, organized crime, or their own governments often in connection to mining, logging, agribusiness, and extractive industries.

Vice President Márquez has survived multiple assassination attempts and death threats over the course of her life and work, defending communities from the some of largest extractive industries in the world.

 

[Shadowy Man]

And what if structural racism is the reason that “blacks [sic] commit more crimes” ?

Why "[sic]"? What's wrong with "blacks", or "whites" for that matter?

From my experience, using an adjective as a noun in this case is considered pejorative.

Even if "structural racism" (however you want to define it) was the reason for higher crime rate among blacks, that is not the reason to give those criminals a pass. "Equity" in sentences or prison population should not be the goal. What should be the goal is equality before the law.

I never suggested they should be given a pass. However, if we deny the existence of structural racism and don't consider it as a contributor to the current situation we will only be treating the symptoms of crime and not addressing more fundamental aspects of social inequities that lead to criminal behavior.

So, it doesn't help to simply say "black people commit more crime so we just lock up more black people" without trying to affect social change that would result in black people not finding themselves in an environment where criminal behavior might seem like the best approach to life. Unless you are the type to advocate that black people are simply by nature more prone to crime.

I hear a lot of talk by the right about "being tough on crime" from the punishment perspective but extremely little from those same about how to attack the roots of crime.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

 

[ZiprHead]

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Just to be clear...it comes across like she is talking to a Republican, but I believe she was asking another Democrat what the Republican alternatives were...any proposals they had made as alternatives to plans. There is of course nothing that a Republican really has for this. You may hear something like "stop illegal aliens" but that's one step away from "I like good." Actual, real plans are concrete real government things that can be implemented. AOC went over them.

 

[Derec]

And AOC's "solution" to immigration is to abolish ICE and open borders wide open. No, thanks!

Any solution has to be a mix of measures to secure the border and easier deportations of illegals already here, but it must include the fundamental overhaul of the asylum laws. Just like in Europe, illegal aliens have found a loophole - just claim "asylum", no matter how fraudulently, and you get to stay in country for years, at which point it becomes very difficult to deport your ass.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I think it is a little amusing that LP isn't the one noting this. Donald Trump was taken down in a judgment regarding business practices, primarily property value manipulation.

While she wasn't in on the investigation, she was the one that helped push a few dominoes down, in her questions to Michael Cohen in Congress. It was the moment where it became noticeable that she was either coached very well, or not as dumb as suggested by the right-wing.

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. OK. Thank you.Second, I want to ask a little bit about your conversation with my colleague from Missouri about asset inflation. To your knowledge, did the President ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?

Mr. COHEN. Yes.

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Who else knows that the President did this?

Mr. COHEN. Allen Weisselberg, Ron Lieberman, and Matthew Calamari.

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. And where would the committee find more information on this? Do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them?

Mr. COHEN. Yes, and you would find it at The Trump Org.

Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Thank you very much.

 

[lpetrich]

AOC visited Brazil, Chile, and Colombia earlier this year, and here's what she Instagrammed about Colombia. She concedes that Colombia's recent history and political landscape are something very controversial.

Starting with the United Fruit Company massacre of striking workers back in 1928. UFC is now Chiquita of Chiquita bananas. This led to political organizing of Colombian workers and the poor, and wealthy elites organized in opposition to them.

Populist politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán ran for President in 1948, and was widely expected to win. But on April 9, he was murdered shortly before the election. His murderer was killed within minutes, so we don't know his motivation, but that provoked some 70 years of civil war between left-wing guerrillas and right-wing militia members fighting alongside the government.

A total of 5 Colombian Presidents were murdered, all liberal or left-wing candidates, with their murders starting the violence all over again. Peace organizers were also assassinated.

 "False positives" scandal

The "false positives" scandal (Spanish: Escándalo de los falsos positivos) was a series of murders in Colombia, part of the armed conflict in that country between the government and guerrilla forces of the FARC and the ELN. Members of the military had poor or mentally impaired civilians lured to remote parts of the country with offers of work, killed them, and presented them to authorities as guerrilleros killed in battle, in an effort to inflate body counts and receive promotions or other benefits. While Colombian investigative agencies find cases as early as 1988 the peak of the phenomenon took place between 2006 and 2009, during the presidency of Álvaro Uribe Vélez.[1]

As of June 2012, a total of 3,350 such cases had been investigated in all parts of the country and verdicts had been reached in 170 cases. Human rights groups have charged that the judicial cases progressed too slowly.[1] The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) in a February 2021 report established the total number of victims to be 6,402 between 2002 and 2008.[2] An article from "The Guardian" shows a 2018 study claiming a total of 10,000 "false positive" victims between 2002 and 2010.[3]

AOC again:

After decades of assassinations and warfare, Colombia elected their first left President & VP in the history of the country last year. They have also elected a conservative Congress.

 

[lpetrich]

For too long, the US has had a history of engaging Latin America, Colombia included, in a manner overly defined by intervention, proxy, and extraction. In Colombia, we must ask how effective the billions in highly militarized approaches have been, as opposed to large scale investments in civil society?

Today, we have an opportunity to engage in shared values of addressing the climate crisis. human rights, economic mobilization, and more.

About the peace process there,

Yes! Crucial to several of our discussions have been the 2016 Peace Accords signed between the Colombian Government and FARC.

These peace accords were accompanied by one of the longest ceasefires in Colombia's history. Implementation of the peace agreement stalled under the previous Colombian president, but there is a new opportunity now to implement the agreement.

FARC is not the only group involved here. There is also much work to be done on different fronts including paramilitary groups, guerrillas, and narco trafficking

In addition to Colombia's leaders, AOC also met with Indigenous and Afro-Colombiano community leaders there.

Then mentioning President Biden's meeting with President Petro of Colombia.

There are, of course, complexities to tackle as well. But that is what makes deepening a working relationship all the more important. Some Republican members of Congress believe in chastisement and insults. Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, has blocked the US from having an ambassador to Colombia at all, among several other countries. I do not believe that is a productive or positive path whatsoever, it hurts the US, and frankly continues in the paternalistic pattern that has led the US to make mistakes in the past. Relationships matter. We should have an ambassador.

 

[lpetrich]

You may have heard it repeated that President Gustavo Petro is a former guerrilla fighter. That is absolutely true in fact, he was a guerrilla fighter with the same M-19 organization that Pizarro was a part of, whose articles you just saw in the peace museum.

In the 70s and 80s, M-19 was a guerrilla organization in the conflict, responsible for attacks and kidnappings.

Petro was 17 years old when he joined M-19. What many US GOP who weaponize the guerrilla point do not state, however, is that Petro also played a major role in demobilizing M-19, turning it towards peace, and bringing together guerrilla fighters and the Colombian government for a brokered peace deal in the 8os/90s. Francia Márquez's leadership also brings into the fold the Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities caught between the conflict and in desperate need of a political champion in a position of influence.

This does not erase the violent past, but it does put into context the political significance of this duo.

Good that AOC is willing to mention some unflattering aspects of President Petro's past.

 

[lpetrich]

On the day I met President Petro, for example, H wanted to be mindful of the highly complicated dynamics surrounding this moment in Colombia and the history of the region.

I chose a conservative, monotonal dress to communicate an evenness and focus on solutions. Neither celebratory nor cynical, but clear-eyed on the situation and work ahead.

She wore a white pantsuit when she met President Boric of Chile.

She and Colombia Vice President Francia Márquez both wore floral-print dresses, something that she found a pleasant surprise.

There are many times that I absolutely envy my male colleagues who can wear the same outfit or two all week and no one notices or cares. They can just focus. Picking clothing all the time can be tiring and it takes a lot more energy, money, and time from women especially when you consider the hair and makeup required to be perceived just as well-groomed as a man who splashed some water on his face.

However, I also find the rigid and more old fashioned interpretations of masculinity that still define political dress to be highly limiting as well. The minimalism of it is great and has many advantages when you choose it. But men are also judged if they venture outside a pretty repressive box of navy suits.

As a woman, I am liberated to express and communicate much more with my dress. But it takes a lot more and I am scrutinized much more for it as well. It's a dual dynamic.

That's why Tressie McMillian Cottom thinks it legitimate to discuss what Kyrsten Sinema wears -- KS isn't very talkative about herself and what she wants to do.

 

[lpetrich]

In a museum:

This is the replica of the articles worn by Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, a prominent M-19 guerrila commander in the who brokered a peace deal to demobilize his guerrilla organization and transform it into nonviolent political a party for peaceful change in Colombia.

Pizarro negotiated a peace deal and demobilized hundreds of combatants after being one himself. He then ran for President as a left candidate in I990.

He was assassinated shortly after.