Things with Wings

Items belonging to homeless people are gathered on the sidewalk as the LA Sanitation service sweeps the street in Hollywood, California, United States. Photo: Valérie Macon/AFP/Getty Images.

First Lady of Song Goes Christmas Shopping

A bronze statue of late singer Ella Fitzgerald stands wearing a hat and protective face mask outside the Metro-North Railroad Station Plaza in Yonkers, New York City, United States. Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters.

The Queen’s Gambit

Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily won second term in New York’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday “despite millions spent against [her]” by her Republican challenger and despite the mistrust of her own party comrades, apparently concerned about her progressive agenda. Photo: Justin Lane/EFE/EPA.

Laika

Jackie Ferrentino is an artist from Brooklyn, New York, United States. Last March POLITICO Europe asked her (as well as other artists from around the world) to draw what she was seeing and feeling in isolation. She captioned her drawing, “Everything now has a sense of unreality. Disconnected from friends, family and the outside world, I feel like I’m nowhere even when I’m right here in my apartment, looking out my window”. Artwork © Jackie Ferrentino.

Zebra Crossing

A man crosses a nearly empty Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters.

Another day to remember

Geneva Wood, 90, who was a resident at Life Care Center of Kirkland, is pictured at home as her son, Keith Wood, prepares coffee after she recovered at Harborview Medical Center from coronavirus during the outbreak, in Kirkland, Washington, United States. Photo: David Ryder/Reuters.

He’ll never underestimate a bartender again

The Texas senator tried to pick a fight after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Mike Pence’s coronavirus credentials. [Read more].

• Luke O’Neil, Ted Cruz tried to mock AOC’s scientific knowledge — it didn’t end well, The Guardian, February 28, 2020

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2007, presenting her project on Caenorhabditis elegan (C. elegan) lifespan extension, which was awarded second prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in microbiology. Photo: Society for Science & the Public.

13-board simultaneous exhibition

Eight Republicans and five Democrats are vying to take on AOC — but many voters in the district are voicing support for the congresswoman. [Read more].

• Edward Helmore, Ocasio-Cortez faces 13 challengers — but can anyone unseat her?, The Guardian, February 17, 2020

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participating in a House Financial Services Committee hearing with Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Washington, D.C., United States, October 23, 2019. Photo: Erin Scott/Reuters.

Only a Pawn in Their Game

A woman passes a mural in Manhattan, New York City, United States. Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP.

Cyclo-cross

A youth rides his bicycle at Times Square, in New York, United States. Photo: Lucas Landau/Reuters.

“You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think”

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently banned two Democratic U.S. congresswomen, Ilhan Omar (left) and Rashida Tlaib (right), from visiting the country and the Palestinian territories this weekend, after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly urged “Bibi” to deny visa to the two progressive congresswomen — in fact the only two Muslim women in Congress — for their (supposed) pro-Palestinian tendencies. Israel’s decision to block visit was condemned almost unanimously by U.S. Congress as unjust and inopportune. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA.

Mandela Day

Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose safety is constantly at risk because of the racist “calls” of the President’s most extreme supporters, chose a symbolic day — today’s 2019 Nelson Mandela International Day — to vindicate her right to be free from ethnicity-based discrimination in Donald Trump’s America.

Dangerously Equal

The House’s lawmakers voted to officially condemn President Donald Trump’s remarks on the four Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar (right), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (centre), Rashida Tlaib (left), and Ayanna Pressley, with four Republicans joining Democrats. The resolution states the House of Representatives “strongly condemns” Trump’s “racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color”. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images.

The Four Seasons

From left to right: Democratic congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley just spoke at a press conference about President Donald Trump and his harsh remarks against not directly named “‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen” — widely interpreted as a reference to them — who have been asked to “go back” to their “corrupt” and “broken and crime infested” countries. “The President can’t defend his policies so what he does is attack us personally”, Ocasio-Cortez said, while Pressley warned the American public to “not take the bait”, because the systematic distraction of the people from the real issues is the only aim of Trump’s rhetoric. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images.

The Flag in the Wind

In an emotional testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Friday, July 12, 2019 Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib described conditions at an immigrant detention centre, decrying alleged mistreatment happening “in front of the American flag”. During Ocasio-Cortez’s testimony a congressional staffer fainted. The testimony came as Vice President Mike Pence was due to travel to Texas on Friday to tour a holding facility and participate in a roundtable with border patrol and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has questioned the FBI over a potential double standard for perpetrators of violent extremism. She said Muslim mass killers tended to be charged with terrorism while massacres by white supremacists were considered only to be hate crimes. “Doesn’t it seem that because the perpetrator was Muslim that the designation would say it’s a foreign organisation?”, Ocasio-Cortez asked the Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division Michael McGarrity, to which he responded: “That’s not correct”. Ocasio-Cortez then asked him if white supremacy was not a global issue. “It is a global issue”, the FBI official responded. “So why are they not charged with foreign terror?”.

Social equality

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured above), has thrown her support behind Queens District Attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán in a pivotal Democratic primary set for June 25. “Our criminal justice system needs to change. New Yorkers deserve a seat at the table, and a champion who will fight to realign our priorities towards equal treatment under the law”, Ocasio-Cortez declared. “If Tiffany Cabán wins, things are going to change. Instead of criminalizing poverty, we’re going to dedicate resources towards prosecuting abusive landlords. Instead of targeting people who use marijuana, we can go after the drug companies that took advantage of working-class folks for profit. We can end broken windows policing and rebuild the relationship between our communities, and the justice system that’s supposed to work for us. We can end cash bail, so that the rich and poor are held equal in the eyes of the law. We deserve a district attorney that understands that to make our community safer we help people prosper. We deserve Tiffany Cabán”. Photo: Reuters.

“I am a public defender. I have spent my career working for people who did not have resources to defend themselves against the brutal system of mass incarceration. I am running to transform the Queens District Attorney’s office after years of witnessing its abuses on the front lines”, Tiffany Cabán says about herself. Photo: Megan Magray for Cabán for Queens District Attorney.

The Red Thread of Fate

• David Smith, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she’d be “hard pressed” to back Biden in primary, The Guardian, May 22, 2019

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told The Guardian: “I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon”. Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters.

AOC

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be soon featured in a new comic book as a political superhero. Devil’s Due Comics, a North American publisher, announced Friday it will release a one-time comic book “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force” in May. Image courtesy of Devil’s Due Comics.

#BD559C

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played “a lightning round game” during a House Oversight Committee hearing on February 6, to emphasize the “fundamentally broken” system of ethical accountability.