AOC Says Republicans Would Be “Humiliated” If Hunter Biden Hearing Was Public

On Tuesday, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee rejected a request from Hunter Biden for his testimony in front of the committee to be made public — a move that committee member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) said was made simply because Republicans are afraid of “getting humiliated” in the public sphere.

Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, sent a letter to Congress saying that he would only testify if the hearings were public in order to ensure that Republican lawmakers wouldn’t manipulate his words or selectively leak information to smear him.

Ocasio-Cortez Slams Israel For Cutting Gaza's Power And Water Supply

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spoke out Thursday against Israel’s plans to block electricity, water and fuel from Gaza, calling it a “collective punishment and a violation of international law.”

Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz this week vowed to cut off energy supplies to the isolated Palestinian territory until Hamas militants from the region free Israeli hostages they’ve taken amid one of the group’s most brutal attacks on the Jewish country in decades.

Ocasio-Cortez Accuses GOP Of Fabricating Image At Impeachment Hearing

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused the GOP of displaying a “fabricated” screenshot during the first formal hearing in Republicans’ impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden on Thursday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s allegations came after Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida showed a message that Jim Biden, the president’s brother, sent to Hunter Biden, the president’s son, in 2018. Donalds claimed it indicated that the president benefited from fraud and money laundering committed by Hunter Biden.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has 3 Blunt Words For Kevin McCarthy's New Demand

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reportedly wants to meet with President Joe Biden in an apparent bid to renegotiate their months-old budget deal as McCarthy desperately seeks to appease House Republican hard-liners — who are demanding radical spending cuts — and avert a government shutdown as soon as Oct. 1.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wasn’t having McCarthy’s new demand, though.

Menendez Vows to Stay in Office as AOC, Fetterman Call for His Resignation

Sen. Bob Menendez is remaining defiant and has doubled down on his vow to remain in Congress as a growing number of fellow Democrats in Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York and other influential figures, are calling on him to resign.

The Democrat from New Jersey faces federal charges alleging that he and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes from the Egyption government in exchange for political favors. In his first press conference since federal prosecutors announced the charges with an indictment on Friday, Menendez said he believes he will be exonerated and reiterated his vow not to resign.

Vulnerable Dems fret after getting a shock: AOC’s campaign cash

As the midterm campaign’s first fundraising deadline approached this week, several vulnerable House Democrats got an unwelcome surprise in their accounts: $5,000 from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The New York Democrat sent the contributions to her colleagues to help keep the House majority ahead of a tough cycle without directly contributing to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with which she’s publicly clashed. But Ocasio-Cortez’s largesse — and an oversight at the campaign headquarters — has instead raised awkward questions among her colleagues as some swing-district Democrats fret over whether to return her money before the GOP can turn it into an attack ad.

Paper straws and you

There are approximately 1.3 billion people in India — and several hundred million cows.

The amount of methane gas those cows produce likely equals, or maybe even exceeds, all the carbon emissions of California, New York and Connecticut combined.

It would seem that, here in the U.S., our environmental warriors against greenhouse gas should be calling for an end to all these cows.

Please, AOC, don’t fall into Ted Cruz’s birth control trap

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the lefty lion of the House freshman class, has a new frenemy — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Making birth control available over-the-counter is a mainstream idea with broad support among health providers. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that over-the-counter access to birth control pills “will help more women get the contraceptives they need, which have long been proven safe enough to use without a prescription — especially emergency contraception.”

GOP leader, Ocasio-Cortez give boost to lawmaker pay hike

Lawmakers say that any effort to give members of Congress a raise won’t pass unless both parties agree not to use the issue as a campaign weapon.

While no such agreement has been ironed out, there is a chance that there will be a bipartisan deal struck at some point this year.

Proponents of the pay hike acknowledge it’s not popular but argue that it is long overdue.

AOC, Bernie Sanders confuse inequality with poverty

“Socialism,” anathema to many but a path worth exploring to others, has been packaged nicely as “democratic socialism” (a hilarious oxymoron) by millionaire author Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and proselytized by neophyte Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who, like the president, invents statistics extemporaneously.

But in all fairness, neither is a socialist in the true sense of the term, meaning a belief in government ownership of production and the abolition of private property.

{mosads}Since more than half of Democrats, millennials and minorities hold socialism in higher regard than capitalism, one wonders if these groups truly understand what life is like, say, for the average Cuban. On the other hand, Americans as whole, according to Gallup, prefer capitalism 56 percent to 37 percent.

To Disempower Lobbyists, Give Congressional Staff a Raise

If we want to diminish the power of corporate lobbyists in Congress, one of the best but most overlooked ways to do so would be to give congressional staffers a raise.

Over the weekend, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that her office was going to ensure a living wage for all her staffers by paying no one less than $52,000, which constitutes a living wage in Washington, D.C., for two adults, with one working. Part of making that a reality in Ocasio-Cortez’s office means capping her staff salaries at $80,000. Staff salaries are not fixed: in 2018, each office had an average of $1.36 million to spend on staff salaries and official office expenses — the

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Only Democrat To Vote Against Reopening Government

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was the lone House Democrat to vote against a bill to reopen the government on Wednesday, a position she described as “a tough/nuanced call,” The Hill reported.

The short-term measure included funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Ocasio-Cortez explained in an Instagram story is opposed by many people she represents.

“Most of our votes are pretty straightforward, but today was a tough/nuanced call,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “We didn’t vote with the party because one of the spending bills included ICE funding and our community felt strongly about not funding that.”

Ocasio-Cortez signal of support is good news for Pelosi

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) could soon be on Team Pelosi.

The liberal freshman firebrand made a splash during her first day of orientation by joining a protest outside of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office to demand action on climate change.

But over the weekend, Ocasio-Cortez told her nearly 800,000 Instagram followers she will likely back the California Democrat, calling her the most progressive of the possible candidates for Speaker.

A formal endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez would be a boon for Pelosi as she seeks to return to the Speaker’s office and create the perception that the longtime Democratic leader is building momentum for her bid.