- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have violated House rules with Met Gala gifts, watchdog says USA TODAY
- AOC faces House ethics probe over Met Gala, watchdog finds ‘substantial reason to believe’ violations occurred Fox News
- AOC paid for Met Gala outfit after House opened ethics probe: report Business Insider
- AOC Likely Violated Ethics Rules in Accepting ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala Dress, Congressional Watchdog Finds Yahoo News
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Under House Scrutiny for Met Gala Participation The Wall Street Journal
- View Full Coverage on Google News
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We need direct talks with Russia and a negotiated settlement | Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Barbara Lee, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and others
Dear Mr President,
We write with appreciation for your commitment to Ukraine’s legitimate struggle against Russia’s war of aggression. Your support for the self-defense of an independent, sovereign and democratic state has been supported by Congress, including through various appropriations of military, economic and humanitarian aid in furtherance of this cause. Your administration’s policy was critical to enable the Ukrainian people, through their courageous fighting and heroic sacrifices, to deal a historic military defeat to Russia, forcing Russia to dramatically scale back the stated goals of the invasion.
Crucially, you achieved this while also maintaining that it is imperative to avoid direct military conflict with Russia, which would lead to “world war III, something we must strive to prevent”. The risk of nuclear weapons being used has been estimated to be higher now than at any time since the height of the cold war. Given the catastrophic possibilities of nuclear escalation and miscalculation, which only increase the longer this war continues, we agree with your goal of avoiding direct military conflict as an overriding national security priority.
Given the destruction created by this war for Ukraine and the world, as well as the risk of catastrophic escalation, we also believe it is in the interest of Ukraine, the United States and the world to avoid a prolonged conflict. For this reason, we urge you to pair the military and economic support the United States has provided to Ukraine with a proactive diplomatic push, redoubling efforts to seek a realistic framework for a ceasefire. This is consistent with your recognition that “there’s going to have to be a negotiated settlement here,” and your concern that Vladimir Putin “doesn’t have a way out right now, and I’m trying to figure out what we do about that”.
We are under no illusions regarding the difficulties involved in engaging Russia, given its outrageous and illegal invasion of Ukraine and its decision to make additional illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory. However, if there is a way to end the war while preserving a free and independent Ukraine, it is America’s responsibility to pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine. Such a framework would presumably include incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief and bring together the international community to establish security guarantees for a free and independent Ukraine that are acceptable for all parties, particularly Ukrainians. The alternative to diplomacy is protracted war, with both its attendant certainties and catastrophic and unknowable risks.
Russia’s invasion has caused incalculable harm for the people of Ukraine, leading to the deaths of countless thousands of civilians, Ukrainian soldiers, and displacement of 13 million people, while Russia’s recent seizure of cities in Ukraine’s east have led to the most pivotal moment in the conflict and the consolidation of Russian control over roughly 20% of Ukraine’s territory. The conflict threatens an additional tens of millions more worldwide, as skyrocketing prices in wheat, fertilizer and fuel spark acute crises in global hunger and poverty. A war that is allowed to grind on for years – potentially escalating in intensity and geographic scope – threatens to displace, kill, and immiserate far more Ukrainians while causing hunger, poverty, and death around the world. The conflict has also contributed to elevated gas and food prices at home, fueling inflation and high oil prices for Americans in recent months. Economists believe that if the situation in Ukraine is stabilized, some of the speculative concerns driving higher fuel costs will subside and likely lead to a drop in world oil prices.
We agree with the administration’s perspective that it is not America’s place to pressure Ukraine’s government regarding sovereign decisions, and with the principle you have enunciated that there should be “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”. But as legislators responsible for the expenditure of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars in military assistance in the conflict, we believe such involvement in this war also creates a responsibility for the United States to seriously explore all possible avenues, including direct engagement with Russia, to reduce harm and support Ukraine in achieving a peaceful settlement.
In May, President Zelenskiy, despite deadlocked negotiations, reiterated that the war “will only definitively end through diplomacy”, and had previously explained that “any mentally healthy person always chooses the diplomatic path, because he or she knows: even if it is difficult, it can prevent the loss of thousands, tens of thousands …and maybe even millions of lives.”
In conclusion, we urge you to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire, engage in direct talks with Russia, explore prospects for a new European security arrangement acceptable to all parties, which will allow for a sovereign and independent Ukraine, and, in coordination with our Ukrainian partners, seek a rapid end to the conflict and reiterate this goal as America’s chief priority.
Pramila Jayapal, Member of Congress
Earl Blumenauer, Member of Congress
Cori Bush, Member of Congress
Jesús G “Chuy” García, Member of Congress
Raúl M Grijalva, Member of Congress
Sara Jacobs, Member of Congress
Ro Khanna, Member of Congress
Barbara Lee, Member of Congress
Ilhan Omar, Member of Congress
Ayanna Pressley, Member of Congress
Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of Congress
Mark Pocan, Member of Congress
Nydia M Velázquez, Member of Congress
Gwen S Moore, Member of Congress
Yvette D Clarke, Member of Congress
Henry C “Hank” Johnson Jr, Member of Congress
Rashida Tlaib, Member of Congress
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Member of Congress
Mondaire Jones, Member of Congress
Peter A DeFazio, Member of Congress
Jamaal Bowman, Member of Congress
Marie Newman, Member of Congress
Alma S Adams, Member of Congress
Chellie Pingree, Member of Congress
Jamie Raskin, Member of Congress
Bonnie Watson Coleman, Member of Congress
Mark Takano, Member of Congress
André Carson, Member of Congress
Donald M Payne Jr, Member of Congress
Mark DeSaulnier, Member of Congress
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and other Democrats arrested in abortion rights protest
Wearing specially made green bandanas with “Won’t Back Down,” they marched from the Capitol to the Court, which has been fenced off for weeks, since shortly after the leak of the draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Within two minutes of their arriving, police began ordering them to “cease and desist.” Instead, they sat on the street, and were one by one led off by officers as they chanted, “The people, united, will never be divided.”
The US Capitol Police tweeted: “Demonstrators are starting to block First Street, NE. It is against the law to block traffic, so officers are going to give our standard three warnings before they start making arrests.”
Capitol Police later said they had arrested 34 people total, including 16 members of Congress.
Among those arrested:
- Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark of Massachusetts
- Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts
- Barbara Lee of California
- Jackie Speier of California
- Sara Jacobs of California
- Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
- Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey
- Andy Levin of Michigan
- Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
- Jan Schakowsky of Illinois
- Madeline Dean of Pennsylvania
- Cori Bush of Missouri
- Carolyn Maloney of New York
- Nydia Velazquez of New York
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
- Alma Adams of North Carolina
Ocasio-Cortez to unionized Amazon workers: victory is ‘just the beginning’ | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Amazon’s first unionized workers in New York on Sunday that their victory was “the first domino to fall” in what she expected to be a wave of similar votes for representation across the country.
The leftwing Democrat joined Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on stage in Staten Island to celebrate the historic achievement and to call for workers in more Amazon facilities in the US to follow their example.
“What happened out here … what you guys did in Staten Island was just the beginning. It was the first domino to fall,” she said, noting that workers at a second Amazon sorting facility in the New York borough were voting on Monday.
“We have another election tomorrow, and we’re going to support them in that. And the day after that, and the day after that, all the way. But what we need Amazon to do first and foremost is to recognize the union that won their election.”
Amazon has so far refused to acknowledge the vote at its Staten Island fulfillment center, after it was accused of intimidating and hounding workers during the campaign with anti-union messages, and spending millions of dollars to try to ensure the vote failed.
Immediately after the result, Amazon, owned by the world’s second richest man Jeff Bezos, whose personal wealth is estimated by Forbes at $170bn, went to court to try to get the outcome overturned.
“First and foremost, Amazon, Jeff Bezos, everybody, we got to recognize the fact that they did this thing, and they won a union election fair and square,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“You got to treat our people right. You can give our workers a bathroom break, you can ensure you’re treating people well and giving them solid health care benefits, and that they don’t have a three-hour commute to and from work, that they can afford a house they can live in, that people are not going to be sleeping in their cars in order to work for Amazon.
“All of this is an indignity and an injustice and it has no place in New York city and we’re going to change that, and right here our workers out here are going to change that.”
Sanders was equally scathing of Amazon’s treatment of workers. “When you got a corporation that is making huge profits, you know what, you can pay your workers good wages, provide good benefits, and you can have decent working conditions, not what you got right now,” he said.
Addressing Chris Smalls, the union organizer behind the successful New York vote, and fellow activists in attendance, Sanders added: “You may not know this, but you have been an inspiration for millions of workers all across this country, who have looked at you and said, ‘these guys in Staten Island stood up to an extraordinarily powerful corporation. If they can do it in Staten Island, we can do it throughout this country’.”
Sanders also took a shot at centrist Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, whom he said were “sabotaging” America’s working class with their opposition to Joe Biden’s social reform agenda.
Although he did not mention them by name, it was clear he was attacking the two Democrats whose opposition to Biden’s Build Back Better package of social spending, welfare assistance and climate measures blocked its passage through Congress.
“To get it passed we need at least 50 Democrats who are going to stand up with the working class of this country, we don’t have it,” he said.
“We have a couple of people who are busy sabotaging the working-class agenda.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tests positive for COVID-19
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19, her office said in a statement on Sunday.
“She is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” the statement said. “The Congresswoman received her booster this fall and encourages everyone to get their booster and follow CDC guidelines.”
The CDC recommends that Americans who test positive for COVID-19 and develop symptoms isolate for at least five full days. After those five days, the CDC says that people can stop isolating if they are “fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved.”
The CDC says that “If an individual has access to a test and wants to test, the best approach is to use an antigen test towards the end of the 5-day isolation period. Collect the test sample only if you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and your other symptoms have improved.”
COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country, with an average of nearly 700,000 new cases reported per day, according to the CDC.
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb suggested Sunday on “Face the Nation” that the Omicron surge may have already peaked in areas like New York City — where Ocasio-Cortez lives — Washington, D.C., Maryland and possibly Florida.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
According to govtracker.us, more than 100 members of Congress have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Capitol physician Brian Monahan said in a memo to lawmakers on January 3 that the positivity rate among lawmakers had jumped from 1% to 13%. Monahan recommended telework when possible.
“Congressional offices, Committees, and Agencies should immediately review their operations to adopt a maximal telework posture to reduce in-person meetings and in-office activities to the maximum extent possible,” Monahan said in the memo. “Electronic means to facilitate all-virtual or hybrid- type meetings or hearings should be emphasized. Employing agencies should review their efforts to promote all required measures to sustain workplace and employee health and safety. Capitol food vendors and dining facilities will emphasize carry-out, delivery, grab-and-go type food options to reduce assemblies of people dining together in inside spaces (a high-risk viral spread activity). Any group activity indoors should promote strict mask-wear compliance.”
The House has not held any floor votes since December 14, and was scheduled to return from the holiday recess on Monday.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tests positive for COVID-19
New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19 and is recovering at home – just over a week since she was spotted partying without a mask in Florida, her office said on Sunday.
“Representative Ocasio-Cortez has received a positive test result for COVID-19. She is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” the statement said.
“The Congresswoman received her booster shot this fall, and encourages everyone to get their booster and follow all CDC guidance.”
The lefty Dem’s positive test result comes just over a week after she was spotted maskless enjoying drinks with her boyfriend while on vacation in Miami as omicron cases soared across the nation.
The progressive “Squad” member was photographed with boyfriend Riley Roberts sitting outside at the Doraku Izakaya and Sushi restaurant on Dec. 30, sipping a cocktail and checking her phone.
AOC’s maskless winter getaway was criticized on social media by supporters of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has taken a strong anti-mask stance.
“Welcome to Florida, AOC! We hope you’re enjoying a taste of freedom here in the Sunshine State thanks to @RonDeSantisFL’s leadership,” read a post from the Team DeSantis Twitter account in response to the photo.
The Sunshine State’s lieutenant governor Jeanette Núñez also chimed in, writing, “@AOC’s New York state of mind clearly doesn’t mind being in the free state of Florida…mask free of course.”
Former White House press secretary and Florida native Kayleigh McEnany tweeted that AOC’s travel choice was “interesting.”
“I guess she enjoys the freedom-loving utopia of Florida over her mandate-ridden New York!” added McEnany, now a co-host on the Fox News midday show “Outnumbered.”
Ocasio-Cortez shot back at the Team DeSantis tweet the following day, writing: “Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks? If he’s around, I would be happy to say hello. His social media team seems to have been posting old photos for weeks. In the meantime, perhaps I could help with local organizing. Folks are quite receptive here :)”
“I’d also be happy to share some notes from @GovKathyHochul’s work in NY since he seems to be in need of tips!” she added in another tweet.
She also fired back at former Donald Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes, who called out Roberts for “showing his gross pale male feet in public (not at a pool/beach) with hideous sandals,” as seen in the photo.
“If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet,” AOC wrote. “Ya creepy weirdos.”
The Congresswomen reproached Texas Senator Ted Cruz in February after he took a family vacation to Cancun while his state experienced a deadly winter storm that knocked out power to millions and left 23 dead.
“If Sen. Cruz had resigned back in January after helping gin up a violent insurrection that killed several people, he could’ve taken his vacation in peace,” she tweeted at the time. “Texans should continue to demand his resignation.”
DeSantis taunted AOC in a press conference last week when he was asked about her trip.
“If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man, let me tell ya,” DeSantis, 43, said
Candace Owens blasts Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for bratty, immature response to critics
Political commentator Candace Owens appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to discuss the recent controversy surrounding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
On Monday, Carlson remarked on Ocasio-Cortez being photographed on vacation in Florida despite omicron variant cases rising in her home state of New York.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ GETS PASS FROM MAINSTREAM MEDIA AFTER GOING MASKLESS AT PACKED FLORIDA BAR
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) departs after a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi hosted to promote Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 1, 2021.
(REUTERS/Leah Millis)
After the Squad member faced backlash for the images, she latched onto a comment made by former Trump adviser Steve Cortes who took a shot at her boyfriend’s foot attire.
“If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet,” she tweeted, adding “Ya creepy weirdos.”
GOV. DESANTIS ON MEDIA CRITICISM HE WAS MIA IN DECEMBER: ‘I GUESS I SHOULD’VE BEEN AT THE BEACH IN DELAWARE’
Carlson mocked this response as did Owens.
“Listen, I saw this, and I actually couldn’t believe my eyes. And I tried to create a sober analysis of what made her tweet that,” Owens said.
She brought up Ocasio-Cortez’s additional response reading, “It’s starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general. These people clearly need therapy, won’t do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It’s really weird.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks at a news conference urging the Senate to secure a pathway to citizenship in President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“She’s really actually creating a sexual narrative, and in my sober analysis, I believe that she wasn’t sober,” Owens argued. “How bizarre and immature is it for any person who wants to be taken seriously as an adult to look at a fair critique of them as an elected official who has been barking about how Florida is doing everything wrong, about how bad Ron DeSantis is, to see this critique and offer back ‘well, you know what, you just want to sleep with me.’ I mean what are we even talking about?”
Owens added, “Imagine any male did this, an elected official. Imagine if Rand Paul gets a critique or any other person, even Joe Biden. If Joe Biden was critiqued and they said ‘sir, how can you say this about climate change’ and his response was ‘well, you just want to sleep with me.’ It’s so bratty and it’s so immature and it’s so disgusting to even think about.”
Owens poked fun at Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.
“And let me just say this in case there’s any confusion. I have a lot of critiques of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I’ve had a lot critiques since the very beginning. No Sandy, I do not want to sleep with you,” she said.
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‘Shopping Cart Killer’ ID’d in Fairfax County, Body Found – NBC4 Washington
Fairfax County police are investigating a man they call “The Shopping Cart Killer” after four victims have been killed since August.
Police said they believe suspect Anthony Robinson, 35, is a serial killer. Robinson is in custody, officials said at a news conference Friday.
Detectives believe Robinson met victims on dating websites, went to hotels with them, killed them and then transported their remains in shopping carts. Badly decomposed remains of two victims were found together in a container.
“Our Shopping Cart Killer does unspeakable things with his victims,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
Robinson’s attorney has not issued a statement, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Police “tentatively” believe that Cheyenne Brown, a 29-year-old woman who was missing from Southeast D.C., is one of the victims.
Brown took a Metro train from D.C. to the Huntington station in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County on Sept. 30 and was not heard from again, police said.
The human remains found in the same area were preliminarily identified as Brown’s, on the basis of a distinctive tattoo, police said.
Brown was the mother of a 7-year-old boy and was pregnant, her family said in an interview with News4 earlier this month, desperate for answers about her disappearance.
Robinson was charged in late November in the deaths of Allene Elizabeth “Beth” Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville.
Their bodies were found the night of Nov. 24 in a vacant lot in Harrisonburg.
Smith was the mother of six children.
Police believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
Robinson is known to have lived in D.C., Prince George’s County and New York, Davis said. He has a “remarkable absence of a criminal history,” compared with the horror of the crimes of which he’s accused, the chief said.
Human remains were found in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County on Wednesday, police said earlier Friday. The remains were found “tucked away in an isolated wooded area,” in a container near a shopping cart in the 2400 block of Fairhaven Avenue. The location is about a mile south of the Capital Beltway.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Torches Paul Gosar After Cringey Anime Clip of Him Killing Her
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has issued a withering response to Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) after he posted a cringeworthy anime clip that showed him killing her. Gosar’s clip depicted himself as the hero of Japanese anime series Attack on Titan, and it showed him slaying Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden with swords. The clip was flagged as “hateful conduct” by Twitter, and now Ocasio-Cortez has responded after landing in Scotland for the COP26 conference. “While I was en route to Glasgow, a creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me,” she wrote. The congresswoman predicted Gosar will face “no consequences” for his post, and added: “This dude is a just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway. White supremacy is for extremely fragile people & sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn’t open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself.” Gosar’s digital director, Jessica Lycos, defended the video, writing in a statement: “Everyone needs to relax.”
Read it at The Washington Post
Game Pass And PS5 Get Among Us In December
Better late than never, right? A year after Among Us blew up during the pandemic, and three years after it first released on Steam, Innersloth’s murder spree sim is finally coming to PlayStation and Xbox consoles on December 14.
On PS4 and PS5 the game “comes with all of the previous content, a slew of new updates, and an exclusive Ratchet & Clank cosmetic in the future,” the studio wrote in a post on the PlayStation Blog. On Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, Among Us will be available through Game Pass. All versions of the game will support cross-play with one another, and cost $5 to buy. Hopefully Microsoft follows Sony’s lead and throws in a Gears of War Lancer, or at least Master Chief’s helmet.
Among Us started on mobile and PC when it released in 2018, but didn’t find a huge audience until the COVID-19 lockdowns got underway in early 2020. By August it had hit over 400,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, thanks in part to the simple premise, and facilitating multiplayer drama that was perfect for Twitch streams. By October, even Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was playing it.
The developers at Innersloth have spoken before about how they weren’t prepared for the game’s sudden influx of players, and have been racing to update it with new content and port it to more platforms since. The game did come to Switch last December, but has remained a console exclusive on Nintendo’s hybrid handheld in the time since. That will finally change in just a couple months.
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In the meantime, Innersloth has teased an upcoming collaboration with Epic Games in Fortnite. The free-to-play battle royale released an Imposters mode lifted straight out of Among Us over the summer, but failed to credit the indie game until just last week. Fortunately, the brands have since made-up.