Free Republic

On fellow freshman Democrat Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who leapt to Omar's defense, Christie dismissed her as nothing more than a flash in the pan. “This is the problem with people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They like to talk a lot, but they don’t want to be held responsible for anything they say, and the fact is that to diminish the attacks on 9/11, the greatest attack ever perpetrated on this country, on our soil from a terrorist organization, is to demean the lives that were lost that day, both among those who were in those buildings and on those planes, and those...

Amid her zeal to save the world with the Green New Deal, Rep. ­Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ­ignored residents in her own Bronx back yard. “I thought AOC would be our savior, but that’s not the case,” complained Roxanne Delgado, a local activist who said she has tried for months to get in touch with the congresswoman for help saving an animal shelter and to clean up parks in the district. Delgado, 40, says she has made numerous calls to Ocasio-Cortez’s offices in Washington and Queens and sent a barrage of tweets after the freshman lawmaker encouraged residents during a recent...

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) hasn’t taken office yet, but she’s already looking to take out fellow Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), according to a report Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked the political world when she defeated veteran Queens Rep. Joseph Crowley, said last month she’d support challenges to Democrats who are not as left-leaning as their constituents. Politico reported that she’s recruited an African-American woman to challenge Jeffries in 2020. A source told the news website that running a primary rival to Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, was the “highest priority” for Ocasio-Cortez. Jeffries was recently elected the...

America loves an underdog and a good story. The rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had all the markings of just such a story. The 28-year-old unknown millennial Latina from the Bronx pulled off a stunning upset in a New York City Democratic congressional primary, knocking off a prominent party veteran in her first bid for public office. Ocasio-Cortez won 57.5% of the vote against Rep. Joe Crowley, a 10-term Democrat in the 14th Congressional District in New York widely seen by many as a possible successor to Rep. Nancy Pelosi for House Minority Leader was the fourth-ranked Democrat in the House....

Representatives of 13 progressive organizations are hand-delivering over 150,000 petition signatures Thursday to the Capitol Hill office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), demanding that she appoint Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to the influential House Ways and Means Committee. The in-person action, which the groups plan to livestream, is part of an unprecedented, months-long effort by activists to secure greater representation for progressive members of Congress on the influential “money” committees: Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Appropriations, and Financial Services. “The grassroots progressive movement is flexing more power than ever before,” said Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for Justice...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t get a seat on the powerful tax writing committee where she sought to push her progressive agenda of Medicare for All, free college tuition and a green new deal. Instead, the open downstate New York slot on the House Ways and Means Committee went to a moderate Democrat, Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, a former CPA, attorney and county executive. Suozzi will assume the committee seat of Rep. Joe Crowley, the Queens Democrat Ocasio-Cortez defeated last year in a stunning upset. Ocasio-Cortez sought a spot on the committee—which is usually off limits to freshman...

Ocasio-Cortez didn’t get a seat on the powerful tax writing committee she sought to push her progressive agenda of Medicare for All, free college tuition and a green new deal. Instead, the New York slot on the House Ways and Means went to a moderate Democrat, Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, a former CPA, attorney and county executive. Suozzi will assume the committee seat of Rep. Joe Crowley, the Queens Democrat Ocasio-Cortez defeated last year in a stunning upset. Ocasio-Cortez sought the spot (which is usually off limits to freshman reps) with the backing of progressive groups that pushed for...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t get a seat on the powerful tax writing committee where she sought to push her progressive agenda of Medicare for All, free college tuition and a green new deal. Instead, the open downstate New York slot on the House Ways and Means Committee went to a moderate Democrat, Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi, a former CPA, attorney and county executive. Suozzi will assume the committee seat of Rep. Joe Crowley, the Queens Democrat Ocasio-Cortez defeated last year in a stunning upset.

Has anyone been louder in advocating for a higher minimum wage than New York's Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer? He's bellowed that minimum wages should be raised to at least $12 an hour, attempting to shame Republicans for opposing him, by calling it, (kid you not), "a moral issue," as he put it. He's pretty much defined the Democratic Party in the minds of voters by his hammerings on the minimum wage. Then he went and put out an ad calling for unpaid interns. According to the New York Post: WASHINGTON – Sen. Schumer listed job openings for unpaid interns — but...

Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Wednesday why he supported funding an $18-billion border wall in 2013 but is opposed to the $5-billion border wall President Trump has asked Congress to fund. Baier asked Sanders if he thinks Democrats and Republicans can reach a deal to prevent a government shutdown, pointing out that Trump has said he will shut down the government if $5 billion for a border wall isn’t included in the continuing resolution. “I think border security is enormously important, but I think building a wall is a very costly and inefficient way to...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez needs a break. The Bronx-bred democratic socialist heading into her freshman term in the House of Representatives announced Monday she’s taking some time off to take care of herself before she officially starts her new job — and she’s taking her supporters along for the ride.

Since it’s never too early to start the 2020 election cycle, CNN got out ahead of the pack this week and put a poll in the field in Iowa, the first caucus state for the presidential election. They were looking to see who the hot prospects for the nomination are. The results aren’t all that much different from some national polls we’ve already looked it, but there were a few juicy bits of goodness in there. At the top of the pack (as usual) were Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The only real shocker was to see Beto O’Rourke moving...

Camille Paglia is a rare bird: A liberal who’s not afraid to tell the truth about liberals. In a recent Q & A with Spectator USA, Paglia sounded off about a variety of topics, including the likely class of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. And let’s just say she didn’t mince words: "If the economy continues strong, Trump will be reelected. The Democrats (my party) have been in chaos since the 2016 election and have no coherent message except Trump hatred. Despite the vast pack of potential candidates, no one yet seems to have the edge. I had high hopes for...

Don’t get me wrong, amigos. The “mainstream media” does not label gun-control-loving Tim Mc Graw’s upcoming tour in the same manner as does this column. Instead we read stuff like this:  “Tim McGraw to perform in (totalitarian) Cuba-- McGraw’s 2019 Memorial Day Weekend trek, dubbed “One of Those Havana Nights.”..The McGraw trip offers lodging in ocean-view rooms at (totalitarian) Havana’s upscale Meliá Hotel, where a box of cigars and a bottle of rum will await each traveler. The all-inclusive tour is designed to make foreigners' typical Havana dreams come true, featuring a ride around (totalitarian) Havana in a classic American...

“Hate to admit it but Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a very good point,” the Fox News host said of her criticism of Amazon.

Democratic superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent an hour with First Lady Chirlane McCray on Friday discussing mental health issues. Cortez told reporters gathered outside of Gracie Mansion afterward that she and McCray spent much of the time talking about the First Lady’s mental health initiative. “It went really well, we were discussing the first lady’s mental health program throughout New York City and we are trying to figure out ways that we can really create conversations around mental health in communities,” the congresswoman-elect said.

The solipsistic socialist is twisting the dragon’s tail.Nancy Pelosi should be happier than she seems. The Democrats recently harvested enough votes to retake the House of Representatives, and she will again be elected Speaker of that body in January. But a lot has changed since 2011, when she last held the gavel. She isn’t accustomed to being ambushed on live television by the President about border security, or having newly minted members of her own caucus demand the creation of select committees while encouraging activists to besiege her office. Pelosi no doubt feels nostalgic about Barack Obama and Joe Crowley...

U.S. Capitol Police told Fox News 138 people were arrested Monday during demonstrations by Green New Deal supporters at the Capitol Hill office of House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested 138 individuals for unlawfully demonstrating in the Cannon and Longworth House Office Buildings. All were charged with D.C. Code §22-1307, Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding,” Eva Malecki, communications director of the United States Capitol Police, said.

Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that oil thought to be enough for only one day burned instead for eight. So the Jewish festival of lights is also, in a way, a celebration of surprise. A temple in Queens got a small dose of surprise on Sunday - the final night of Hanukkah - when Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat with a knack for dramatic flourish, told those gathered to light the menorah that her ancestors were Jewish. ‘‘One of the things that we discovered about ourselves is that a very, very long time ago, generations and generations ago, my...

Too many conservatives are having too much fun with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s gaffes and more-than-apparent ignorance of economics, history and the U.S. Constitution. There is truly a lot of low-hanging fruit, and it hardly needs to be re-hashed. Just check your social media feed. But just deriding the woman belies two errors. One is thinking that she is a lightweight one-off to be mocked and ridiculed for sport and the other is to think there is no harm in doing so. On the first count, she is showing herself to be a much quicker study than one might expect considering her...