All Things "AOC" Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & the Squad.

[The Evil Genius]

It's cute how triggered conservatives have gotten over AOC. Is it the outspoken well educated liberal latina part? Or are their thinner skins at work here?

 

At least her effectiveness is easy to measure.

[Larry]

Assume it's just a case of them needing a new boogyman to plant in their followers minds, to represent what will happen if they ever stop voting Republican.  A name and a face to put on the same straw man they've been using.  Six months from now, every GOP member of congress (and every candidate) will be running against her, Omar, and Nancy Pelosi.  

Edited July 23, 2019 by Larry

[LadySkinsFan]

Since Hillary won the popular vote, notice how all the Republican "boogeymen" are women? 

 

I can't express how much I despise Republicans and and have for many years. Their policies of putting corporations and greed above human beings is the basis for this viewpoint.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Larry]

1 hour ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

 

She got more votes than her opponent. 

Unlike Donald Trump. 

[Burgold]

Anyone really think that Donald Trump is saying AOC is A-Okay in his book?

 

 

[NoCalMike]

Not sure if this thread should be re-titled into "All Things The Squad" but I am posting this here as to not make a separate thread for Omar Ilhan.  The way she nails the answer to this question I think speaks to a lot of frustration for muslim members of congress, as if they have some kind of responsibility to spend a part of every single day answering specific questions about certain subjects, and how members of the media ask these questions either seemingly having done zero research on their actual actions on the topic or just being disingenuous in their questioning hoping to achieve some out of context tiny soundbite fodder for right wing media to play over and over.

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/23/rep-ilhan-omar-calls-question-appalling-muslim-conference-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/

[tshile]

On 7/23/2019 at 9:00 AM, The Evil Genius said:

It's cute how triggered conservatives have gotten over AOC. Is it the outspoken well educated liberal latina part? Or are their thinner skins at work here?

 

At least her effectiveness is easy to measure.

Honestly, I think it’s just their playbook. Attack a rising star early and often. Years later when it matters there’s a foundation of criticism too fall back on. The backing of future criticism will be that there’s such a long history of criticism it must be true. Which means you gotta start now. 

On 7/23/2019 at 9:25 AM, LadySkinsFan said:

Since Hillary won the popular vote, notice how all the Republican "boogeymen" are women? 

This is bull****. The republicans have a very clear and strong non-discrimination policy on boogiemen. 

 

Unless you need to be reminded of the Obama administration?

[NoCalMike]

3 minutes ago, tshile said:

Honestly, I think it’s just their playbook. Attack a rising star early and often. Years later when it matters there’s a foundation of criticism too fall back on. The backing of future criticism will be that there’s such a long history of criticism it must be true. Which means you gotta start now. 

 

Right, it is basically the same playbook as what they did with Pelosi when she was perceived to be the #1 Dem besides the President.  They had people from all over the country believing Pelosi was somehow intricately affecting their local policies.  She was brought up in local elections all over the country.  It was silly, yet somehow effective.  Now the same is being done with AOC and "The Squad" They want everyone from Tallahassee to Birmingham to Santa Fe believing that AOC is somehow this all-powerful person. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by NoCalMike

[88Comrade2000]

18 minutes ago, NoCalMike said:

Not sure if this thread should be re-titled into "All Things The Squad" but I am posting this here as to not make a separate thread for Omar Ilhan.  

Added "the Squad" to the title.

[bcl05]

40 minutes ago, NoCalMike said:

Not sure if this thread should be re-titled into "All Things The Squad" but I am posting this here as to not make a separate thread for Omar Ilhan.  The way she nails the answer to this question I think speaks to a lot of frustration for muslim members of congress, as if they have some kind of responsibility to spend a part of every single day answering specific questions about certain subjects, and how members of the media ask these questions either seemingly having done zero research on their actual actions on the topic or just being disingenuous in their questioning hoping to achieve some out of context tiny soundbite fodder for right wing media to play over and over.

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/23/rep-ilhan-omar-calls-question-appalling-muslim-conference-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/

 

I just watched that video and wanted to start applauding.  That was awesome.  

[Destino]

4 hours ago, NoCalMike said:

Not sure if this thread should be re-titled into "All Things The Squad" but I am posting this here as to not make a separate thread for Omar Ilhan.  The way she nails the answer to this question I think speaks to a lot of frustration for muslim members of congress, as if they have some kind of responsibility to spend a part of every single day answering specific questions about certain subjects, and how members of the media ask these questions either seemingly having done zero research on their actual actions on the topic or just being disingenuous in their questioning hoping to achieve some out of context tiny soundbite fodder for right wing media to play over and over.

 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/23/rep-ilhan-omar-calls-question-appalling-muslim-conference-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/

 

I sympathize with her but at the same time I feel like we're living in an era where generalizations being pinned on individuals is entirely common place.  We're all being essentialized down to our clothing, and so I feel that being asked to answer for the items appearing in the bad column of our twiiter idiots guide to *race/religion* is an unavoidable part of that. 

 

For example, if I mention I'm catholic or that my daughter is in catholic school guess which questions I get immediately?  I get that she's annoyed, and like I said I sympathize with her, but this seems to be part of the world we live in today.  Individuals matter less than their labels in political discussions. 

[LadySkinsFan]

^^^^ That doesn't make it right, and that these attacks go unremarked.

Edited July 25, 2019 by LadySkinsFan

[Destino]

3 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

^^^^ That doesn't make it right, and that these attacks go unremarked.

Attacks? Lets take a minute to remember who it was that asked this question:

 

Quote

The question Omar was responding to was on whether she’d give a statement on female genital mutilation (FGM), the cultural custom that is sometimes referred to as female circumcision or cutting. The question came from Ani Zonneveld, a Muslim human rights activist and founder of Muslims for Progressive Values.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/07/24/rep-ilhan-omar-disgusted-at-female-genital-mutilation-question/

 

It wasn't an attack.  I doubt Ani Zonneveld had anything in mind other than trying to advocate on behalf of women in her community.  This is just how we talk politics today.  From where we are right now, in terms of how we discuss races and religions, it's not at all surprising to see Catholic leaders made to address the misdeeds of the church.  And likewise it's not surprising to see Muslim asked to address the things people associate with Islam. 

 

Semi related:  Rihanna just caught a ton of **** the other day for wearing the wrong clothes on a magazine cover, because black models shouldn’t wear Chinese clothes.... which is somehow not a wildly racist thing to say.  This despite the fact that shoot was produced by a Chinese team, photographed by a Chinese photographer, for a magazine distributed in China.  This is madness, but this is how we do things now.  Link: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/rihanna-harpers-bazaar-china-intl-hnk/index.html

 

In this modern day age of wonders, we're working hard to reduce people to their their labels. 

[LadySkinsFan]

People are making death threats against these sitting Congresswomen. People attack any of their policies regardless of what they are. This cannot be tolerated.

[nonniey]

9 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

People are making death threats against these sitting Congresswomen. People attack any of their policies regardless of what they are. This cannot be tolerated.

Death threats certainly shouldn't be tolerated, but are you saying attacking policies regardless of what they are shouldn't be tolerated as well? Most of the posters in this forum do just that for other politicians (and some have strayed very close to death threats as well).

Edited July 25, 2019 by nonniey

[nonniey]

1 hour ago, Destino said:

........

 

In this modern day age of wonders, we're working hard to reduce people to their their labels. 

And no one harder than the democrats.

[NoCalMike]

1 hour ago, Destino said:

Attacks? Lets take a minute to remember who it was that asked this question:

 

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/07/24/rep-ilhan-omar-disgusted-at-female-genital-mutilation-question/

 

It wasn't an attack.  I doubt Ani Zonneveld had anything in mind other than trying to advocate on behalf of women in her community. 

 

 

And that wouldn't be a problem if Omar had never condemned it already or she hadn't signed on legislation trying to ban it, and whatever else she had already done to show she was against it.

 

Omar's point is that members of the media ask these questions to her as if she doesn't have a public record that shows exactly what her position is on these issues. She is out there doing the work, not just the talk, yet is continually asked about it, even perhaps in good faith as if the media has zero time to actually do some research on the people they are asking questions of. 

[Destino]

1 hour ago, NoCalMike said:

And that wouldn't be a problem if Omar had never condemned it already or she hadn't signed on legislation trying to ban it, and whatever else she had already done to show she was against it.

 

Omar's point is that members of the media ask these questions to her as if she doesn't have a public record that shows exactly what her position is on these issues. She is out there doing the work, not just the talk, yet is continually asked about it, even perhaps in good faith as if the media has zero time to actually do some research on the people they are asking questions of. 

I get that, but literally every member of congress is constantly defending and restating their record on every issue of importance.  That's not new.

 

This was also not a member of the media asking the question.  This was an activist asking for a quote in support of the issues she cares about, and doing against the backdrop of a federal ban on FGM recently being ruled unconstitutional.  the Justice department decided not to appeal the ruling just three months ago.  I'm guessing that made an activist like Ani Zonneveld feel that the issue was a relevant one to bring up with a sitting member of congress.

 

Also none of the media articles I've read have found the time to pause their "Yas Queen!" moment long enough to even bother to mention that Muslims for Progressive Values put out a statement on what took place.  It seems relevant, no? 

 

 

As I said before, I sympathize with the congresswoman.  I'd be completely annoyed with being asked to constantly hold court on issues people imagine are related to me because of who I am.  She's a politician though, so answering the same question thousands of times is part of the job.  The longer she remains in congress the longer she'll spend affirming and reaffirming her stances on every issue. 

[Destino]

7 hours ago, nonniey said:

And no one harder than the democrats.

I disagree, the left was late to this party and have at least tried to use some of their stereotyping and generalizing to help more marginalized groups.  Now everyone gets to enjoy simplifying humanity into a manageable groups of color coded hive minds.  It's important that things be made as simple as possible before Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho arrives to fulfill the prophecy. 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[Destino]

Republicans seem to specialize in dishonest editing of videos.  It's their thing.  They're still proud that the successfully took down ACORN by using doctored videos created by a criminal. 

 

I have a question about what Rep Omar really meant this time though.  As we know "If fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country..." was edited out.  And it was... but then she started her answer to the second question (also edited out) with "like I said the focus of our policies should be about keeping Americans safe."  So whats that mean in context?  Does she think we should be profiling and monitoring whites or is that only if we are lead by fear? 

 

Also I have a real problem with her answer to the second question and answer that was entirely edited out.  She was asked about Americans going off to fight for jihadist groups abroad and what she would do about it and she responded "Where we actually find a solution is looking at our foreign policy and how we are engaging with the members of these communities and the kind of rhetoric that is being spewed out of leaders within our city halls, within our state capitals, and within our nations capital."  That comes much too close, for my liking, to framing these people as victims and the terrorists groups the form in a sympathetic light. 

 

It's not the first time she's done this either.  She wrote a letter urging a judge to consider a lighter sentence for a convicted terrorist named.  I have no problem with that at face value.  People can change, young people especially.  30 years for trying to fly out and join ISIS does seem severe to me.  My problem is once again how she frames the situation, here's what I mean: 

 

Quote

The best deterrent to fanaticism is a system of compassion. We must alter our attitude and approach; if we truly want to affect [sic] change, we should refocus our efforts on inclusion and rehabilitation. A long-term prison sentence for one who chose violence to combat direct marginalization is a statement that our justice system misunderstands the guilty. A restorative approach to justice assesses the lure of criminality and addresses it.

link:  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ilhan-omar-isis/ 

 

The list of groups that can justifiably argue that they've been marginalized somewhere in the the world is long.  The number of them that decide to link up and enslave people while murdering anyone that thinks differently is much shorter.  ISIS is not a group of people seeking to combat oppression.  ISIS wishes to do the oppressing.

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[visionary]

6 hours ago, Destino said:

Also I have a real problem with her answer to the second question and answer that was entirely edited out.  She was asked about Americans going off to fight for jihadist groups abroad and what she would do about it and she responded "Where we actually find a solution is looking at our foreign policy and how we are engaging with the members of these communities and the kind of rhetoric that is being spewed out of leaders within our city halls, within our state capitals, and within our nations capital."  That comes much too close, for my liking, to framing these people as victims and the terrorists groups the form in a sympathetic light. 

 

It's not the first time she's done this either.  She wrote a letter urging a judge to consider a lighter sentence for a convicted terrorist named.  I have no problem with that at face value.  People can change, young people especially.  30 years for trying to fly out and join ISIS does seem severe to me.  My problem is once again how she frames the situation, here's what I mean: 

 

link:  https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ilhan-omar-isis/ 

 

The list of groups that can justifiably argue that they've been marginalized somewhere in the the world is long.  The number of them that decide to link up and enslave people while murdering anyone that thinks differently is much shorter.  ISIS is not a group of people seeking to combat oppression.  ISIS wishes to do the oppressing.

This is a very dangerous and mistaken assumption, if you are assuming everyone joins groups like ISIS (or groups that end up becoming much more radical or considered terrorists or extremist later on) to oppress or enslave people.  It all depends on the person.  There are many out there who chose such things because they like to hurt people or think it will get them power, others do so to fight back against an injustice or to avenge people they know who died or protect others who are in danger from other groups or state entities.  Many violent groups started out in response to oppression or the same kinds of things that ISIS did.  Anyway, she apparently was just referring to this specific individual in that instance, not a specific policy for dealing with everyone who was caught trying to join jihadi groups or ISIS.  (I don't know enough about the case or the man involved to say what he deserved)

[Bozo the kKklown]