Alexandria Ocasio

As I've been explaining, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 60-70% marginal tax rate on all annual income over $10,000,000 would struggle be be called moderate. It's actually quite conservative. How many people have annual incomes of over $10,000,000? And those very few people who do, would only have to pay the 60-70% rate on the income over $10,000,000. That threshold is absurd and should be down around $800,000 (with perhaps a 40% rate) then rise to a million dollars with a 50% rate and climb gradually (rates increasing) towards $5 million will the top rate-- 80% kicks in.

This morning, a friend of mine shared a thought from his meditation: "If Hillary and even Trump have given their country any substantial gifts, the biggest must be making many Democrats and Independents wary and prone to scrutinize contenders before it’s too late. Perhaps an award should be presented Trump for his role in opening the Democratic Party to reform." And that-- plus Colbert's show Monday night-- brings us to...

If Fox keeps it up, AOC is going to be president when she turns 35I mentioned earlier that not all the freshmen are like AOC. A number of people seemed offended and asked me what I meant. I was thinking about independence, smarts, solidarity, relatability, dedication... that kind of thing, which holds up well against... well, careerism.

Last week, the Brennan Center for Justice website published a post by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Netflix for Democracy. Change frightens politicians and the kind of profound change Torres-Spelliscy wrote about has the political establishments of both parties petrified. It would scramble the power dynamic in Washington.

(Part I and Part II)Watch the Justice Democrats video above where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explaining explains the difference between a real champion of the working class and a garden variety careerist Democrat who manages to ooze into Congress. "There's a lot of people in the Democratic caucus," she tells her colleagues.

Not a popular position in Congress-- but OUTSIDE the Beltway...I have to admit I stopped watching 60 Minutes quite a few decades ago. But I don't remember it being a place where they spotlighted too many members of the House, let alone a freshman who was on her first week in the House.

For politics junkies, yesterday started with a pre-dawn Rachael Bade/Heather Caygle click magnetic piece at Politico, Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez. One of my former jobs was editor of Alternative Rock, one of America's first punk zines.

Early in the campaign Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called me on the phone to ask for a Blue America endorsement. We'd been looking for someone to take on Joe Crowley for a decade, so I knew Digby and Amato would agree that backing her was a good idea, even if her chance to actually win was practically non-existent against Queens Democratic Party Machine boss and "the next Speaker of the House." I told her we'd endorse her and help her raise money for the campaign but that she needed to work on name recognition and then take on Crowley again in 2020.

The weekend Paul Krugman was on fire after Republicans cluelessly went on the warpath against Alexandria Cortez again, this time because of her 60 Minutes tax hike for the rich proposal. His NY Times column, The Economics of Soaking the Rich, started by asking "What does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know about tax policy?" and then answering... "A lot."

Can your member of Congress dance? He or she may have to learn after Republicans decided to make dancing an issue. The video above... she was in college. Don't you LOVE it? The whole country does... except some angry, plodding Republicans. They are so screwed up. HuffPo reported that "The video originated from a right-wing Twitter account that was trying to peddle an allegedly scandalous video of Ocasio-Cortez dancing.