Nothing teaches them, nothing. That somebody can seriously write this sort of thing in 2018 is truly insane:
We are in the midst of an intense partisan and ideological battle over culture and identity; the Democrats aren’t backing down or moving to the center on these issues; and politicians who want to lead in either party will probably have to take strong, clear stances on matters of gender and race.
Identity has lost them every election since forever, yet they want more of it. They’ve been taking stances on absolutely nothing whatsoever but gender and race. The strong, clear stance they take is that neither is real yet both define everything because of evil racists and sexists. And because choice is sacred for everybody but evil sexists and racists. This form of pouty consumerism is not attracting voters, yet the idiots keep promoting it with fanatical dedication.
Clarissa's Blog 
Identity Politics: I survived an Alexandra Ocasio Cortez Rally
But then Ocasio-Cortez spoke, followed by Bush, and I saw something truly terrifying. I saw just how easy it would be, were I less involved and less certain of our nation’s founding and its history, to fall for the populist lines they were shouting from that stage.
I saw how easy it would be, as a parent, to accept the idea that my children deserve healthcare and education.
I saw how easy it would be, as someone who has struggled to make ends meet, to accept the idea that a “living wage” was a human right.
Above all, I saw how easy it would be to accept the notion that it was the government’s job to make sure that those things were provided.
I watched as both Ocasio-Cortez and Bush deftly chopped America up into demographics, pointed out how those demographics had been victimized under the current system, and then promised to be the voice for those demographics. The movement, Ocasio-Cortez shouted, “knows no zip code. It knows no state. It knows no race. It knows no gender. It knows no documented status.”
Bush, after saying her piece, noted that she had been careful to allow speakers from across all demographics to make it clear that she was not running to represent just one particular group, but all.
I left the rally with a photo — in part to remind myself of that time I crashed a rally headlined by a socialist, but also in part to remind myself that there, but for the grace of God, go I.
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“The movement, Ocasio-Cortez shouted, “knows no zip code. It knows no state. It knows no race. It knows no gender. It knows no documented status.”
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I visited Beijing a few years ago for a conference, and my son was with me. He was 9 and touched everything. On day 3, his eyes were red. Our hosts took us to a hospital across town, he was seen by an ophthalmologist in the emergency room, the equipment in the ER was first rate, and all we had to pay for were his eye drops, which was a few bucks.
Now imagine the cost of the same visit for someone without insurance in the US. Just to talk to the triage nurse is about $100.
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China doesn’t have a problem with people wanting to come in. To the contrary, people are desperate to leave. The depopulated areas of Siberia are experiencing an explosion in Chinese settlements. Who wants to be in Siberia, in the middle of nowhere? Apparently, the Chinese do.
Nobody is moving by the million into rural China. So we can’t compare.
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Well, she’s not that young — there’s a big difference in real-world experience between 28 (Ocasio-Cortez’s age) and 21. And she has a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations, so she ought to have learned something about those subjects!
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I want to be positive so I ascribe this to youth. People seem wildly enthusiastic about this person, and there’s got to be a reason. There’s got to be something salvageable here.
I’m truly stunned that these “ideas” are being expressed with so much panache and to great acclaim.
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She and Bernie make a very photogenic couple when they campaign together. Too bad she’s too young to run for president or even VP (minimum age is 35), and Sanders is way too old.
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My husband says, “She’s a young Bernie.” She’d be very appealing to Berniebros, in more ways than one.
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They might as well quit campaigning. As Melissa McEwan over at Shakesville has been warning us for years, there aren’t going to be any more free elections in America. Here’s her latest tweet:
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This is exactly what Trump did when he thought he’d lose to Hillary. What’s good for the goose…
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The identity issue just goes to show that the Democrats have no real ideas and that there are few substantive differences between them and the Republicans. The focus on identity politics is really just an acceptance of the (economic) status quo–see Walter Benn Michaels’ The Trouble with Diversity. The Democrats keep on talking about how mean Trump is, making me think that this is gonna be their platform again–“Trump is unfit to be president, so vote for us”–and that they’re not gonna focus on real issues like health care, income inequality, student loan debt, etc. The refreshing thing about Ocasio-Cortez is that her campaign, from what I understand, didn’t/doesn’t really talk much about Trump and instead addresses real issues that “ordinary” people care about.
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That’s been true of many midterm campaigns this election season though. Ocasio-Cortez is not unique in that regard. Conor Lamb didn’t talk about Trump. Everyone running statewide in Ohio is focusing on real problems, and they have better ideas for solving them than yelling “abolish ICE!” The Democrat running in my congressional district is mainly focused on healthcare, and while he talked about Trump some early in his campaign he quickly realized that he’d be better off focusing on the issues and on his opponent. These are just a few examples, I could give dozens.
Of course, the great people we have running are drowned out by bleating, Trump-obsessed morons in safe seats (ex. Kirsten Gillibrand.)
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Calls to Abolish ICE Not ‘Open Borders’ (factcheck.org)
Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims, Democrats are not advocating open borders, not even the ones who are calling to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The small minority of Democrats in Congress calling for the end of ICE have all said they would like to have many of ICE’s functions redistributed to other, existing government agencies. None has called for abandoning border enforcement…
. As we wrote then, Clinton supported the 2013 Senate immigration bill, the so-called Gang of Eight bill, which in addition to providing a path to earned citizenship for those then in the country illegally, would have included significant investments in border security. The bill would have doubled the number of border patrol agents along the Mexican border, added 350 miles of new fencing, and added a host of security and technologies to prevent illegal immigration.
In fact, every Democrat in the Senate voted for the bill. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, cited that bill in a tweet responding to Trump’s repeated claims about Democratic support for open border.
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…“We absolutely do need to make sure that our borders are secure,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with CNN, “to make sure people are safe in passage. But what we need to realize and remember is that ICE was established in 2003, right at the same time as the Patriot Act, the AUMF, the Iraq War, and we look back at a lot of that time and legislation as a mistake now. And I think that ICE is right there as a part of it. It has an extra-judicial nature, it’s baked in to the structure of the agency and that is why they are able to get away with black sites at our border with the separation of children. We are committing human rights abuses on this border and separating children from their families. And that is part of the structure of the agency. We can replace it. And we can replace it with a humane agency that is directed toward safe passage instead of the direction of criminalization.”
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Safe passage, eh? 🙂 Safe passage of what?
In any case, who cares if it’s not even a contested seat?
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I have not seen any video of Ocasio-Cortez so perhaps she has a charisma that a lot of politicians lack. [Yes, I know by Clarissa’s definition of liking someone even if they say repellent things she probably doesn’t.] The fact she is young, relatively good-looking and beat a long term incumbent while spending a fraction of what he did and not having the endorsements he did is quite startling.
It’s supposed to be a chestnut that you lose your first race. Tammy Duckworth, even with Rahm Emanuel pouring money into her race and outspending everyone else, only managed to win a primary before losing her first election.
Charisma is a funny thing. I had not seen any video of Scott Walker until he showed up in a primary debate and then I was mystified at how he held any elected office because his presence was so lacking.
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She’s not going to lose. It’s a secure seat. I have no idea why people are creating so much hype over an inconsequential seat. Other than that she’s young and cute, of course.
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The hype isn’t about this specific seat or really even this specific candidate — it’s about the extreme far-left message (“Abolish ICE!” etc.), and the hype is coming from multiple opposing political positions:
The message is being cheered (gleefully) by left-wing activists on MSNBC who actually believe that going in this direction will win back the White House for the Democrats!
AND the message is being tamped down by cautious Democratic leaders like Pelosi who realize that it will drive away moderate voters in a general election,
AND it’s being cheered (maliciously) by conservative hosts on FOX who want to convince worried voters that these extreme views are mainstream Democratic Party positions.
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Off topic, but thought Clarissa would want to see this
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/25/us-stock-index-futures-bumper-earnings-in-focus.html?__source=twitter
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