Kimberley Strassel: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- The secret Republican weapon for 2020

Looking fairly normal, because the leftist media are now picking the photos of her acting less crazy.

But photos posted on the net never go away, especially the ones here and below.

The True Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez :-)

The Republican Party has a secret weapon for 2020. It’s especially effective because it’s stealthy: The Democrats seem oblivious to its power. And the GOP needn’t lift a finger for it to work. All Republicans have to do is sit back and watch 29-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez . . . exist.
AOC, as she’s better known, today exists largely in front of the cameras. In a few months she’s gone from an unknown New York bartender to the democratic socialist darling of the left and its media hordes. Her megaphone is so loud that she rivals Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the face of the Democratic Party.
Republicans don’t know whether to applaud or laugh. Most do both.
GREEN NEW DEAL: OCASIO-CORTEZ AIMS TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL OBSOLETE, AID THOSE ‘UNWILLING’ TO WORK

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a freight train gaining speed by the day—and helping Republicans with every passing minute.

For them, what’s not to love? She’s set off a fratricidal war on the left, with her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, this week slamming the “radical conservatives” among the Democrats holding the party “hostage.” She’s made friends with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, who has been accused of anti-Semitism. She’s called the American system of wealth creation “immoral” and believes government has a duty to provide “economic security” to people who are “unwilling to work.” As a representative of New York, she’s making California look sensible.
On Thursday Ms. Ocasio-Cortez unveiled her vaunted Green New Deal, complete with the details of how Democrats plan to reach climate nirvana in a mere 10 years. It came in the form of a resolution, sponsored in the Senate by Massachusetts’ Edward Markey, on which AOC is determined to force a full House vote. That means every Democrat in Washington will get to go on the record in favor of abolishing air travel, outlawing steaks, forcing all American homeowners to retrofit their houses, putting every miner, oil rigger, livestock rancher and gas-station attendant out of a job, and spending trillions and trillions more tax money. Oh, also for government-run health care, which is somehow a prerequisite for a clean economy.
Keep reading Kimberley Strassel's column in the Wall Street Journal.

Nearly 60 percent of Virginia's African-Americans want Gov. Northam to remain in office: poll

Nearly 60 percent of African-Americans in Virginia want Gov. Ralph Northam to remain in office despite the recent scandal surrounding a racist photo on the Democrat's 1984 medical school yearbook page, according to a poll released Saturday.
The Washington Post-Schar School poll, conducted Wednesday through Friday, found Virginia's broader population to be split evenly about Northam’s fate, with 47 percent wanting him to stay and the same percentage wanting him to resign.
African-Americans, however, prefer that the Democrat remain in office, 58 percent to 37 percent. Whites are more evenly divided.
The poll also found that 11 percent of Virginia residents have either worn blackface or known someone who has. Northam has denied that he is one of two men shown on his yearbook page, backtracking an earlier admission. The photo shows one person in blackface and the other dressed in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.
“Initially, I could have forgiven him, and I think he could have gotten past it. It was something that was 35 years ago,” David Hughes, an African-American sheriff's deputy in Newport News, told the Post. “What really bothered me was the change in story.”
Hughes, 54, thinks the governor should resign.
Louise Butler, 76, of Richmond, grew up during segregation and was bothered by the Klan costume, which she said brought back memories of violence and discrimination directed at African-Americans before the Civil Rights Movement.
She told the paper she believed Northam was committed to racial equality despite whatever views he may have held in 1984.

This image shows Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. (Eastern Virginia Medical School via AP)

“He’s been a good governor, and he’s been good, as far as I know, to black people,” Butler said.
In an interview Saturday, Northam said he wants to heal the wounds that some feel after the racist photo emerged.
"There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity. ... There are ongoing inequities to access to things like education, health care, mortgages, capital, entre­pre­neur­ship," he said. "And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia. It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in Virginia. And so we’re ready to learn from our mistakes.”
Other results from the poll revealed about a third of Virginians think Attorney General Mark Herring should resign after he admitted to wearing blackface at a party in college. Most residents are still undecided – 65 percent – on the future of Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is accused of sexual assault by two women. Fairfax denies the accusations.
Respondents were not asked about the second allegation against him, that was made public Friday after the poll began.

2019 Democratic Party Collapsing Cartoons

Northam insists he's not in racist photo because he's left-handed while men in photo are right-handed

Democrat Eat Their Own :-)

Critics: Ralph Northam can't possibly come up with another way to explain himself out of the yearbook mess.
Northam: Hold my beer.
The embattled Virginia governor says he's certain he's not one of the two men shown in a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook -- because the men in the photo are holding beers in their right hands while he’s left-handed.
Northam, who initially apologized for the racist photo, but later backtracked and said he doesn’t believe he’s actually in it, has been fighting for his political life ever since the picture showing a man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan garb emerged Feb. 1.
LIBERAL HYPOCRISY: DEMOCRATS' CALLS FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN FADE AS THREE SCANDALS THROW VIRGINIA INTO CHAOS
Most top Democrats and his party have issued statements calling for him to resign amid the controversy, but Northam insists on his innocence and is trying to convince others that the picture was added to the yearbook by mistake and doesn’t feature him.
Northam's left hand-versus-right hand theory.
Northam reportedly told his staff that the photo struck him as odd because, while attending the medical school, he particularly had trouble using his right hand and even struggled to use a scalpel with it.
He claimed that his left hand is his dominant hand and pointed out that another picture in the yearbook shows him holding a beer with his left hand.
VIRGINIA DEMS REPEAT CALL FOR NORTHAM TO RESIGN, BUT NOT FAIRFAX OR HERRING
But the latest theory isn’t convincing many on social media, with many users noting that Northam, even while being left-handed, has been pictured comfortably using his right hand, including to hold beer and sign bills.
Northam, who admitted wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume in a different instance the same year, is looking for ways to withstand the calls to resign by coming up with policy initiatives that tackle Virginia’s history of racism.
He’s also begun a learning process and started reading works written by black Americans, according to the outlet. The books include the 1976 Alex Haley novel “Roots” in addition to the Ta-Nehisi Coates 2014 essay “The Case for Reparations."

New border-security deal in Congress would likely offer Trump just a fraction of requested $5.7B for wall

Details of a likely bipartisan border-security deal in Congress are being worked out after the White House indicated it will accept an agreement giving President Trump just a fraction of the money he's demanded for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Congressional negotiators said the money allocated to the border wall will be far below Trump’s requested figure of $5.7 billion, a demand that led to a showdown with congressional Democrats and the longest-ever federal government shutdown. The figure is likely to be somewhere around $1.6 billion.
The deal would not only partially fund the wall, it would also prevent another government shutdown next weekend. Trump threatened to go with the shutdown again, though congressional Republicans are unlikely to have the stamina for another shutdown for which they have been held responsible.
One White House aide indicated that Trump will accept whatever agreement comes out of the negotiations as he understands there isn’t enough willpower among Republicans to fight for the full border-wall funding.
But even with a breakthrough in negotiations, Democrats are insisting that the money given to the border security shouldn’t be just for the physical barrier.
“Throughout the talks, Democrats have insisted that a border security compromise not be overly reliant on physical barriers,” Evan Hollander, a spokesman for Democrats who control the House Appropriations Committee, told the Associated Press. “We will not agree to $2 billion in funding for barriers.”
The White House may still attempt to get the additional funding for the wall by using executive action, though such a move is likely to be met with resistance and lawsuits.
The negotiations also include talks about the type and location of the barriers. The question of the number of beds the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency could have for detained migrants has also been raised, in addition to some high-tech surveillance equipment and the number of personnel.
Still, some GOP lawmakers believe the deal’s details could be too much for Trump to swallow, with Rep. Mark Meadows saying “I'm not optimistic it'll be something the president can support.”
A bipartisan deal is likely to pass even without the votes of conservative Republicans, who demand more money for the border wall, and progressive Democrats, who oppose funding of immigration authorities.

Prospective Dem candidate Amy Klobuchar's treatment of staff led to rebuke from Harry Reid: report

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is expected to launch her 2020 presidential campaign on Sunday, but is facing an early crisis over a wave of accusations that she has mistreated staff -- with her conduct reportedly getting so bad that then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told her to change her behavior.
Klobuchar is expected to announce her 2020 run in Minneapolis on Sunday. But that announcement was overshadowed this week when HuffPost reported this week that Klobuchar has such a bad reputation over her treatment of staff that a number of potential staffers have withdrawn from consideration to manage her campaign because of it.
AMY KLOBUCHAR ALLEGEDLY MISTREATED STAFFERS, SEES DIFFICULTY GETTING TEAM FOR 2020 RUN: REPORT
The left-wing outlet reported that staffers described Klobuchar as “habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty,” although others said that while working for Klobuchar was challenging, it was also rewarding. Some pushed back and questioned whether those making the accusations “were falling for sexist stereotypes about female leaders with high standards.”
Klobuchar’s team issued a lengthy statement saying she is “proud” of her staff.
"Senator Klobuchar loves her staff — they are the reason she has gotten to where she is today. She has many staff who have been with her for years — including her Chief of Staff and her State Director, who have worked for her for 5 and 7 years respectively, as well as her political advisor Justin Buoen, who has worked for her for 14 years — and many who have gone on to do amazing things, from working in the Obama Administration (over 20 of them) to running for office to even serving as the Agriculture Commissioner for Minnesota," a campaign spokesperson told HuffPost. "She is proud of them and the work they have done for Minnesota."
But since the outlet published its first story, more stories of alleged mistreatment emerged. Former staffers said that Klobuchar’s wrath left employees in tears, and that one was accidentally hit with a flying binder, according to ​​​​BuzzFeed News.
“I cried. I cried, like, all the time,” said one former staffer.
While BuzzFeed also received some positive stories from former staffers (one said Klobuchar threw her a baby shower and cooked a meal for her friends and family), it noted she has one of the highest turnover rates of staff in the Senate.
Klobuchar would reportedly blow up about anything from minor grammar mistakes, the use of the word “community” in press releases, or failing to charge her iPad.
On Friday evening, HuffPost published a story filled with new allegations, including that she required staff to perform personal duties such as washing dishes. Such a demand would be in violation of the Senate’s rules and federal law against personal use of the office, it said.
The outlet cites a 2012 campaign memo that includes demands such as “only speak when spoken to at events” and telling staffers that while waiting for her in a dressing area or bedroom they should pick up her dirty laundry and place it in a basket. The memo included the following passage:
“Especially while in the car during a busy day: if she is EXTREMELY upset about something, let her rant through it, DON’T interupt [sic] her unless ABSOLUTELY necessary and be careful when trying to calm her down...Often she just needs to talk things out in the open and is not interested in other people’s opinions -- this is something that you will become used to and adjust to -- its just a note for the first time this happens.”
The allegations of mistreatment were reportedly well known to other senators as well. HuffPost reported that Reid spoke to Klobuchar in 2015 about her mistreatment of staff. A Reid spokesman told the outlet that he didn’t remember if he had such a discussion, and instead described her as “one of the most brilliant, hard-working members of the Senate.
According to HuffPost, a former aide to then-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said that a terrified Klobuchar staffer came up to them to explain Klobuchar’s lateness to an event: “I’m supposed to tell you...Senator Klobuchar is late today because I am bad at my job.”
If Klobuchar announces a candidacy, she will likely enter a crowded field that already includes Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J. and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. On Friday, she teased the announcement again, releasing a video in which she said she would be making it on Boom Island.
"As in boom, drop the mic," she quipped.

2020 Democrats jump to endorse Green New Deal despite spending hundreds of thousands on air travel - including private jets

Idiots

Top Democrats running for president in 2020 have jumped on and endorsed Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s radical Green New Deal that aims, among other things, to eliminate air travel.
But the elimination of air travel strikes particularly close to the homes of Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris – all of whom extensively used air travel, including private jets – throughout the years in office.
GREEN NEW DEAL: OCASIO-CORTEZ AIMS TO MAKE AIR TRAVEL OBSOLETE, AID THOSE ‘UNWILLING’ TO WORK
Harris, among the leading Democratic candidates in the 2020 race so far, has been an early backer of Ocasio-Cortez’s resolution to tackle climate change by radically transforming the country by rendering air travel obsolete, moving the U.S. to rely completely on renewable energy with net-zero emissions, and guaranteeing economic security even for people who are “unwilling” to work.
“I’m proud to co-sponsor @AOC and @EdMarkey's Green New Deal. We must aggressively tackle climate change which poses an existential threat to our nation,” she tweeted, adding in that “The Green New Deal is a bold plan to shift our country to 100% clean and renewable energy.”
Yet Harris herself is far from following what she preaches. Since 2015, her campaign has spent around $300,000 on air travel.
Harris’ FEC records also show that she spent less than $7,000 on trains, even though the Green New Deal proposes making trains the main means of transport “at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.”
She is, however, an outlier compared to the three other Democrats when it comes to private jets, with no records or media reports indicating that she took a chartered flight.
Still, Harris’ lavish spending on airline tickets – with many of them first-class tickets – even became a campaign issue in 2015 during her Senate run, as the travel also included first-rate hotels around the country all while her staffers had to fly budget and stay in low-end rooms.
Booker is another 2020 candidate who immediately jumped on the Green New Deal without delving too much on the details, even though he also extensively relies on air travel.
His campaign records show that at least $300,000 were spent on air travel since 2013 by his campaign. He spent just about $11,000 on Amtrak – the Green New Deal’s preferred mode of transport.
While public records don’t clearly indicate whether Booker spent money on chartered flights, multiple media reports have indicated Booker occasionally travels using chartered flights.
The New Jersey Democrat defended his support for the proposal on Friday, comparing it to the government-led push to overhaul the nation’s economy and energy sector to landing on the moon and defeating the Nazis in World War II.
“There's a lot of people now going back on the Green New Deal, they're like 'oh it's impractical, oh it's too expensive, oh it's all of this,'” he said at a stop in Mason City, Iowa. “If we used to govern our dreams that way, we would have never gone to the Moon. 'God, that's impractical. See that ball in the sky? That's impractical.'”
Gillibrand, a New York Democrat and a close friend of Booker, is also backing the Green New Deal, despite being one of the worst offenders when it comes to air travel.
“A #GreenNewDeal is ambitious. It's bold. And I’m cosponsoring this resolution with @aoc and @senmarkey because it’s exactly the kind of action it will take to conquer the biggest threat of our lifetime,” she tweeted.
But Gillibrand has long been criticized for her extensive use of private jets. A Fox News review of public records reveal that Gillibrand’s campaign spent at least $439,000 on air charter company Zen Air between 2010 and 2017. In the last decade, her campaign also spent an additional $465,000 on non-charter flights.
The New York senator doesn’t always charge her campaign for the travel. She charged American taxpayers $93,098 in 2013 and $194,797 in 2012 for chartered flights, according to Senate financial documents, the USA Today reported. She ranked just below her fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer, who hasn’t endorsed the Green New Deal.
Lastly, Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who long fought for against climate change, is one of the original backers of Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal.
“I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal proposal. We must address the existential crisis of planetary climate change, while at the same time creating millions of good-paying jobs in our country,” he wrote.
While Sanders hasn’t yet declared his candidacy for president in 2020, he likely to face attacks even from other progressives for his excessive use air travel.
Just last October, Sanders reportedly spent $300,000 on private air travel just so he could speak to people in nine battleground states prior to November's midterm elections.
Sanders’ 2018 campaign committee issued an Oct. 10 payment of $297,685 to New York-based Apollo Jets, a charter jet company used by retired sports stars Derek Jeter and Shaquille O’Neal, according to federal campaign reports obtained by VTDigger.org, a watchdog news site in Vermont.
Since 2015, his Senate campaign also spent an additional $100,000 on air travel. Sanders also ran for Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2016, meaning some of the travel costs were made on behalf of the presidential campaign.
His presidential campaign spent over $10 million on air travel, compared to just around $75,000 on train travel.

Democrat Rep. Al Green Cartoons