Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasn’t Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill

From The Daily Caller

Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Keystone XL pipeline for leaking about 5,000 barrels of oil in rural South Dakota about two years ago.

There’s just one problem: The Keystone XL pipeline has not been built yet.

During a House hearing Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “Keystone XL, in particular, had one leak that leaked 210,000 gallons across South Dakota” while she questioned Wells Fargo president and CEO Timothy Sloan.

Ocasio-Cortez probably confused the Keystone XL pipeline with the Keystone pipeline, which has been operating since 2010. Keystone XL is still under construction, but would also bring oil sands from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline.

Environmentalists spent years opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, filing court challenges and successfully lobbying former President Barack Obama to personally reject the project in late 2015. President Donald Trump reversed that decision in early 2017, but Keystone XL’s progress has since been delayed by activist lawsuits.

The existing Keystone pipeline, however, was responsible for leaking up to 9,700 barrels in South Dakota in 2017. The initial estimate for the spill was about 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons of oil. Both Keystone and the planned XL line are operated by Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada.

TransCanada said it repaired the pipeline and cleaned-up the spill, Reuters reported in 2018, though the event has been used by environmental activists to gin up opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Ocasio-Cortez, who recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution, also took aim at Wells Fargo’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked violent protests along the project’s planned route throughout 2016. (RELATED: Greenpeace Tries To Erase Inconvenient Co-Founder From History)

U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks about the first few months of her tenure in congress with Briahna Gray at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festivals in Austin, Texas

U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks about the first few months of her tenure in congress with Briahna Gray at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festivals in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 9, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Flores.

Like Keystone XL, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s blocking of the project. Dakota Access went into service in 2017. TransCanada had plans to begin building the Keystone XL pipeline later this year, but a February federal court ruling could delay construction until 2020.

Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago.

“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing.

“We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group.

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John
March 13, 2019 11:05 am

I believe she gets her exercise jumping to conclusions.

Bryan A
Reply to  John
March 13, 2019 12:12 pm

And I thought her exercise came from placing the Cart before the horse
Of course, if all goes as it should, her exercise will come from futility

Sam Pyeatte
Reply to  Bryan A
March 13, 2019 5:21 pm

AOC is a pure clueless nitwit.

Matthew Drobnick
Reply to  Sam Pyeatte
March 14, 2019 6:34 am

Cenk Unger from the Young Turks helped in forming the Justice Democrats and held casting calls for socialist faces to primary establishment Democrats.

https://youtu.be/1h5iv6sECGU

Oh wait, I’m just spouting another conspiracy fact…

Leonard
Reply to  Sam Pyeatte
March 14, 2019 11:37 am

Yes she is, Sam.
She has a degree in economics and international relations from Boston College. Yet, it appears she learned little and understands less.
It is not fair to the individual student to be graded and passed and graduated because of any reasons beyond merit and adequate performance in learning as indicated by successful performance on test taking.
Not basing passing grades and graduation upon merit leaves the student ignorant, happy that they passed, and incompetent in real world problem solving and understanding.
Hence the turn to socialism/communism to make them feel as good as anyone else.

Reply to  John
March 13, 2019 12:18 pm

I Googled about this, and it appears to me that AOC got the name of the pipeline that leaked a little wrong. It is similar. I expect she’ll surely hear about that.

Louis Hooffstetter
Reply to  Donald L. Klipstein
March 13, 2019 1:40 pm

We should forgive AOC for what is clearly an honest mistake.
They’re easy to make when you’re ignorant and arrogant.

Bryan A
Reply to  Louis Hooffstetter
March 13, 2019 2:15 pm

plus 42 Tredecillion

Phil R
Reply to  Louis Hooffstetter
March 13, 2019 5:37 pm

With respect LH, (and I assume that your comment was sarc), +none. Ignorant and arrogant can be amusing when they have no authority. But ignorance coupled with arrogance from someone in a position of power is dangerous and is a disease that can spread.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Phil R
March 13, 2019 9:10 pm

Ouch, the arrogance has become a prerequisite of authority. It’s the accompanying naivete and lack of education that this woman displays which rings alarm bells. She is a pretty spokesperson for elitist billionaires, if my gut feeling proves right.

John Francis
Reply to  Louis Hooffstetter
March 13, 2019 9:11 pm

Well, Louis, she crtainly is ignorant and arrogant. But doesn’t she have lovely eyes?

Yet she is incredibly dangerous.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  John Francis
March 13, 2019 9:25 pm

Look down for a second and consider the bite those teeth might inflict if you disappoint her.

WhyJimWhy
Reply to  John
March 13, 2019 12:21 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDEL4Ty950Q

[In the future, please add a comment to explain what the link is, rather than simply pasting the link by itself. For those wondering, this is a clip from Office Space. -mod]

Rocketscientist
Reply to  John
March 13, 2019 8:37 pm

Using her logic we should be holding accountable whomever paid for her ‘education’ .

March 13, 2019 11:08 am

I am just sooooo sick of this idiot.

Reply to  BobM
March 13, 2019 11:19 am

Agreed, Bob.

But on the other hand she is a gift that keeps on giving. Undecided voters will be deciding the 2020 election. As long as she keeps spouting her drivel, she will continue to push moderate voters away from the uber-radical democratic party.

Reply to  Kamikazedave
March 13, 2019 11:31 am

I’m with you and will add that the extreme Lefties are splitting the Democrats.

Spuds
Reply to  Bob Hoye
March 13, 2019 11:39 am

I doubt that…. It’s too easy (or too dangerous not to) to go with the “green slime flow”. Why bother thinking if someone does it for you, for FREE? 🤣

Bryan A
Reply to  Spuds
March 13, 2019 12:18 pm

Just send your liberal democrat representative an email stating
If AOC continues to speak out as she has been allowed to, you will strongly consider voting Republican at the next elections.
OR
You were considering reregistering and Voting Democrat BUT seeing as how the Party has allowed its junior member AOC to speak out as she has been, you are strongly reconsidering the option.

Bill Powers
Reply to  Spuds
March 13, 2019 1:13 pm

Just read that the Unions have come out against the GND. If the Democrats lose the union backing they lose the union Billions in campaign contributions.

I think Bob is right Spuds, We could very well see Blue Collar Democrats split of and form a Labor party that is more moderate towards Business realizing that without a healthy economy you can’t have healthy jobs.

Big T
Reply to  Bob Hoye
March 13, 2019 1:51 pm

Her picture does not do her justice; we NEED to see her big teeth, to tell for sure that it is her.

Reply to  Kamikazedave
March 14, 2019 7:51 am

I am afraid there are a lot of voters who buy into her nonsense; about as many as buy into Climate Feverism. They don’t know what Socialism is, but figure it’s somehow related to Social media, and everybody knows how great Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat are!

Lucius von Steinkaninchen
March 13, 2019 11:11 am

OCD, Occasional-Cortex Disorder

Trebla
Reply to  Lucius von Steinkaninchen
March 13, 2019 11:55 am

I notice that Ms. OCD is rather fond of lipstick. Perhaps she would enjoy reading an article entitled “Petroleum Product of the Week: Lipstick” which can be found here: https://petroleumservicecompany.com/blog/lipstick-petroleum-product/
This way, she can avoid the embarrassment of mentioning “dirty oil” and cosmetics in the same sentence. Just trying to help.

Carbon Bigfoot
Reply to  Trebla
March 14, 2019 4:49 am

Great point Trebla
And 8000 products we currently use of are intermediates for other products.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Lucius von Steinkaninchen
March 13, 2019 1:35 pm

AOC = Always Overt Conflation.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Pop Piasa
March 13, 2019 9:43 pm

By the way, that used to be my party she’s making look bad.

Rob
March 13, 2019 11:11 am

It used to be embarrassing to hear AOC make so many “mistakes”, but now I wonder if she is just quite happy to make stuff up to get a headline. The fact all of these “mistakes” are calculated to become nice soundbites that get repeated on various kinds of media makes me quite certain that they are in fact quite deliberate.

commieBob
Reply to  Rob
March 13, 2019 11:33 am

I used to love it when Gracie Allen got things mixed up. Somehow I don’t feel the same about AOC. Maybe that’s because I’m a Groucho Marxist and not the other kind.

Reply to  commieBob
March 13, 2019 11:51 am

commieBob

America has it’s very own Diane Abbott aka ‘Flabopotamus’. Welcome to the socialist zone!

Diane is the Shadow Home Secretary for the Labour party (socialists).

This is the standard she conforms to. Try not to laugh too much, it’s undignified to mock the afflicted.

https://youtu.be/w-Syo86gsHk

commieBob
Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 12:08 pm

Ouch. I couldn’t watch the whole thing.

At least Dan Quayle’s gaffes were short and to the point. I think he may have been a closet Groucho Marxist.

RayG
Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 1:37 pm

I would love to see a running compilation of AOC’s and Ilhan Omar’s 10 greatest hits. The only problem is that it would need constant updating as both appear to be afflicted with foot-in-mouth disease.

Ken Tarpley
Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 1:54 pm

That was so embarrassing I could not watch it. How could this woman remain in power?

Reply to  Ken Tarpley
March 13, 2019 2:40 pm

Ken

She’s not actually in power, she’s a shadow minister, in other words a member of the majority opposition to the government.

However, were Labour (socialists) to win, a General Election she would take the reigns as Home Secretary in charge of domestic policy, ironically, Policing, amongst others.

Those are only her more outrageous gaffes, she appears regularly on radio and TV making an utter fool of herself but because she’s black and female she’s given a free pass.

Our Labour government is also under serious scrutiny for their institutionalised anti Semitic behaviour. At their last conference a group were photographed at a Palestinian support group waving Palestinian flags as a rousing Palestinian speech was delivered.

Strangely and entirely ‘co-incidentally’ the Conservative government have recently come under attack for being institutionally anti Islamic. You will of course note, not anti Muslim, but it will doubtless be turned to that.

I have never really bothered with politics during my life but the last few years has opened my eyes to the depths socialists will sink to in order to seize power.

Tragically, far too many people don’t understand that were it not for Capitalism, they would be wearing rags, starving and subservient to elite politicians.

Malcolm Carter
Reply to  Rob
March 13, 2019 11:51 am

I suspect she is one of those useful-idiot puppets with someone pulling her strings from behind the curtain. If what she says resonates with the ecovoters so much the better (for the puppeteer), if she looks the fool her fall is her own.

Robert W Turner
Reply to  Malcolm Carter
March 13, 2019 11:54 am

Of course she is. Who else makes a better puppet than a not-unattractive young bartender with a Latin name?

Reply to  Robert W Turner
March 13, 2019 12:23 pm

Maybe it’s the “O” that starts a last name that people find attractive?
Examples:
Obama
O’Rourke

Jus’ sayin’…. 🙂

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
March 13, 2019 3:20 pm

Oy Vey!

commieBob
Reply to  Malcolm Carter
March 13, 2019 12:14 pm

That opinion does exist. link YMMV, cum grano salis, etc.

Macusn
Reply to  Rob
March 13, 2019 6:36 pm

+1000
She is in a race to win her next election. All of this dribble is getting her on the news so she can say “Look how hard I worked for you against these corporate gods” There is no down side for AOC with her supporters, and the dumb. Many are seeing the politics of this and are voting for Trump.

I am blessed that I was born in the USA.

Mac

SMC
March 13, 2019 11:12 am

AOC has said something stupid? Again? What a surprise.

Reply to  SMC
March 13, 2019 11:55 am

Honorary Blonde

Bryan A
Reply to  Slywolfe
March 13, 2019 12:21 pm

She would give “Blonde” a bad name

Reply to  SMC
March 13, 2019 3:17 pm

Always Outspokenly Confused

Reply to  Gunga Din
March 13, 2019 4:31 pm

+1 Nice
I read on this on another website.
We need another hat, a MABA hat. “Make AOC Bartend Again” hat

gallier2
Reply to  Matt Bergin
March 14, 2019 11:43 pm

Just saw on a FB comment: MAGA, make Alexandria go away.

Yirgach
Reply to  SMC
March 13, 2019 5:22 pm

She is simply an actress, reading her scripted lines. She was casted after her brother answered an ad (along with 10,000 other applicants) for people interested in running in the primaries.
That organization paid for her makeover, campaign media, etc, etc.
When she goes off-script, that’s when it gets funky and her ignorance really shines.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mr+regan&t=ffnt&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=1h5iv6sECGU

catcracking
Reply to  Yirgach
March 13, 2019 7:01 pm

This is an excellent link to watch and is the only believable explanation as to her rise and lack of personal knowledge, yet getting into congress.
Also, if accurate, it paints a picture of how radical organization can gain power,

Matthew Drobnick
Reply to  catcracking
March 14, 2019 6:48 am

It’s accurate

Tom in Florida
March 13, 2019 11:15 am

“hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing.”

So if a solar panel on my roof flies off and damages another house, the finance company that gave me the money for the panels should pay for the clean up. Got it.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom in Florida
March 13, 2019 12:20 pm

Wells Fargo didn’t pay for the construction of the pipeline in the first place. They provided a loan to the company that did pay for it.

Is there anything this congresswoman knows that is actually true?

Reply to  MarkW
March 13, 2019 12:47 pm

Remember Reagan’s classic on the subject:

The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.

j
Reply to  James Schrumpf
March 13, 2019 3:48 pm

Timeless truths….

Phil R
Reply to  MarkW
March 13, 2019 5:54 pm

The scary thing is that she supposedly got a degree in economics from a prestigious university. Either she needs a tuition refund or the university’s reputation is shot (or should be).

Caligula Jones
March 13, 2019 11:18 am

Hypothetically, if an stupid person got elected…

Editor
March 13, 2019 11:18 am

“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing.

It’s same reason that Wells Fargo won’t pay to clean up the water that leaked into our house during a particularly severe thunderstorm yesterday.

“We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group.

Ron Long
Reply to  David Middleton
March 13, 2019 12:17 pm

Exactly, but sorry about your storm damage. Wells Fargo is reasonable to rely on the construction and operating permits to have reviewed the advisability to have constructed and operated the pipeline. Remember everyone, one of the rules of litigation is “go after the deep pockets”.

Bryan A
Reply to  David Middleton
March 13, 2019 12:25 pm

Perhaps you could get AOC to pay for it since she didn’t legislate against it…She is obviously responsible

TDBraun
March 13, 2019 11:23 am

Future statistics from the IPCC will be revised to show that the Keystone Pipeline did in fact leak millions of gallons before it was built.

If you deny this you are a racist.

Pillage Idiot
Reply to  TDBraun
March 13, 2019 11:39 am

Nope, can’t happen.

They never adjust the past to be higher.

Aeronomer
March 13, 2019 11:25 am

Her stupidity is so profound it would be funny, except that even dumber people listen to her.

Reg Nelson
Reply to  Aeronomer
March 13, 2019 11:53 am

And even more astonishing is that her handlers are telling her to say these idiotic things.

Notice when she is challenged and has to go off-script. She’s not smart enough to respond, so she changes the subject.

A parrot can only squawk the words it knows.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  Reg Nelson
March 13, 2019 1:24 pm

She’s a trendy, flashy sock puppet for The Sunrise Movement. Funded by Rockefeller shillings.
https://capitalresearch.org/article/sunrise-movement-wont-let-the-sun-go-down-on-the-green-new-deal/

Matthew Drobnick
Reply to  Pop Piasa
March 14, 2019 6:50 am

Careful pop, you are flirting with conspiracy theory 🙄

Uh oh. How dare you to genuine research and point out evidence of major world players actively manipulating government affairs.

MilwaukeeBob
Reply to  Reg Nelson
March 13, 2019 3:37 pm

Reg, while you are right that she does not now nor probably ever did or ever will have a logical, reasonable, substantive, tangible, or irrefutable though (as she, the actress, is being fed ideas), these “things” are NOT idiotic. They are meant to be a distraction and keep us focused on the wrong things, including her. She is NOTHING more than the visible hand of the magician or Blacks distraction in this chess game we call politics. Black KNOWS the GND will never be implemented. That is NOT the objective.

March 13, 2019 11:26 am

And we Brits thought that Teresa May and her “not really Brexit” Brexit deal was stupid. Commiserations to our fellows across the pond. AOC can stupid for the world. May only stupids for the EU.

Reply to  UK Sceptic
March 13, 2019 11:55 am

UK Sceptic

I have posted a link to a youtube video of Diane Abbott’s finest moments above for the entertainment of our American (and other) friends.

This is what they have to look forward to from AOC.

Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 12:30 pm

I don’t think we should give the dim and grim AOC ideas that might rival Ms Abbott’s super-dense Hypocrisy Singularity. We wouldn’t be thanked for it.

On the other hand Diane’s dismal attempts to get a grip on facts and figures will be amusing to anyone with an IQ greater than her waistband.

Reply to  UK Sceptic
March 13, 2019 4:06 pm

how do you generally measure that over there?

cm would be way too high for that babbling waste of oxygen.

John_C
Reply to  DomM
March 18, 2019 12:32 pm

English units.

(inches)

John Doran
Reply to  UK Sceptic
March 13, 2019 12:14 pm

+ 10, UK Sceptic.

D. J. Hawkins
Reply to  UK Sceptic
March 13, 2019 1:15 pm

It would be one thing if the only people suffering were the idiots who elected her, but she has a chance to spread mayhem across the continent as a member of the majority party in the House.

Reply to  D. J. Hawkins
March 13, 2019 1:36 pm

It’s appalling that the very thing keeping May’s Tories In Name Only in power is the chilling idea that the TINO replacement would be a Marxist government led by Jeremy Corbyn and policed by Momentum thugs.

We are literally caught between a frock and a hard left place.

Pop Piasa
Reply to  D. J. Hawkins
March 13, 2019 10:11 pm

Only a disintegrated party would allow a freshman to take the lead out of pure desperation.

ResourceGuy
March 13, 2019 11:27 am

Nancy is jealous at this point.

Spuds
March 13, 2019 11:35 am

It’s a “word salad” that is made up of poison ivy and hemlock. She doesn’t have to be factually “correct” whatsoever or understand existing environmental regulations. Such things do not apply to her narrative. As far as the caging of children goes, she should turn to her fellow democrats like Rep. Jim McGovern who visited such sites during the Obama years and wrote about it approvingly on his website. That story has mysteriously “disappeared”… However I have a number of screenshots and so do others.

Reply to  Spuds
March 13, 2019 11:56 am

Spuds

The wayback machine may have the website in its entirety.

John Endicott
Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 12:23 pm

Only until the ministry of truth figures out how to make corrections to the wayback machine.

Tom Halla
March 13, 2019 11:35 am

AOC is going on the Tinkerbell Principle, that people thinking ungreen thoughts, like building a pipeline, cause environmental harm. It doesn’t matter that the actual pipeline hasn’t been built yet, it is the thought that counts.
So keep thinking green thoughts, like Ocasio Cortez, and keep Tinkerbell alive.

Reply to  Tom Halla
March 13, 2019 11:58 am

Tom Halla

Tell her the pipeline is to be stopped and road tankers used instead. Sounds like she’ll fall for it.

R Shearer
Reply to  HotScot
March 13, 2019 12:40 pm

No, crude will be carried by high-speed rail instead. Just have to build it and in the case of Hawaii, it will prevent a pipeline from going in.

Reply to  R Shearer
March 13, 2019 3:26 pm

Just build a high speed rail tunnel like the one between Britain and France!
(30 miles. 3,000 miles. What’s the difference?)

R Shearer
Reply to  Gunga Din
March 13, 2019 7:08 pm

2970 miles.

Bryan A
Reply to  Gunga Din
March 13, 2019 11:46 pm

About 15 hours travel time at 200mph

Bryan A
Reply to  Gunga Din
March 13, 2019 11:48 pm

And a tube that can withstand the immense pressure at that depth

Bryan A
Reply to  Gunga Din
March 13, 2019 11:49 pm

Musk will figure it out and we’ll have Blaine the Mono real soon

ResourceGuy
March 13, 2019 11:35 am

Where does all of that makeup come from? Or which mine I mean?

Jean Bush
Reply to  ResourceGuy
March 13, 2019 11:45 am

She needs to ditch the lipstick, it looks like she bit someone.

Davis
Reply to  Jean Bush
March 13, 2019 2:48 pm

But it adds to her porn star image, which she uses to attract voters.

drednicolson
Reply to  Jean Bush
March 14, 2019 1:02 am

“Not a lot of people look good in red lipstick, and those that do, usually juggle for a living.” -Maddox

ozspeaksup
Reply to  drednicolson
March 14, 2019 4:48 am

the lipstick on a pig line comes to mind;-)

Wharfplank
March 13, 2019 11:36 am

“For the same reason the voters from your unenlightened borough won’t get the bill for your GND, my dear”

Dave Yaussy
March 13, 2019 11:42 am

Mixing up Keystone and Keystone XL does not strike me as particularly stupid. Unlike the Green New Deal, which is stunning in its foolishness.

People should also be a little concerned about throwing stones on an error like this if they’re supporting a president who has trouble keeping track of more important facts.

Reply to  Dave Yaussy
March 13, 2019 6:55 pm

Agree that the mix up of similar pipelines is not the issue, though it makes for a flashy headline. The fact that the headline is technically correct differentiates it from most of the garbage AGW headlines.

“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing.

“We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group.

Once, just once, I’d love to hear a witness say, “Excuse me Mam, but is that a serious question?”

Reply to  Dave Yaussy
March 13, 2019 8:40 pm

I thought the same thing David–I could easily mix up “Keystone and Keystone XL.” Even if she is supposed to know before she asks–reps have to “know” so many facts and if they don’t have good aids, I can see it happening. Don’t get me wrong–I do think she is “Alexandria Occasionally Coherent,” as has been noted on this web site before.

Robert W Turner
March 13, 2019 11:52 am

I would have booted up a laptop, turned on Google Earth, zoomed to the exact Township that the spill happened, and then challenged her to point out where it happened. Then asked her if she had any point to make at all or if she were just wasting my time on the nation’s dime.

Robert W Turner
Reply to  Robert W Turner
March 13, 2019 11:59 am
Joe Chang
March 13, 2019 11:55 am

only a silly denier would be bothered by causality

Major Meteor
March 13, 2019 12:00 pm

If every bad thing that happens in America can be traced to a loan from a bank and banks are responsible then banks would cease to exist. But the plan all along might be for banks to disappear and be part of the government. Occasional Cortex not only is tipping her hand on what socialists really want, they are spilling the cards all over the table.

SAMURAI
March 13, 2019 12:07 pm

Wow…

I hope AOC’s team of handlers continue to neglect instructing her of even rudimentary commercial law….

AOC is extremely ignorant on pretty much everything. It’s astounding, really..

What would you expect? She was a bartender 10 seconds ago…

Could you imagine a country where frigging banks would be held financially liable for 3rd-party product liability lawsuits to whom they happened to have loaned money??? LOL!

I hope AOC continues to be MSM’s darling.

She is a gift that keeps on giving.

You go, girl! You’re doin’ a hellava job re-electing Trump.

Reg Nelson
Reply to  SAMURAI
March 13, 2019 12:14 pm

And if Wells Fargo had refused to issue debt instruments to the corrupt Puerto Rican government, they would be immediately be branded as racists.

MarkW
Reply to  Reg Nelson
March 13, 2019 12:23 pm

Banks refusing to loan to minorities who weren’t qualified is what led to the recent financial meltdown.

Richard Patton
Reply to  MarkW
March 13, 2019 2:54 pm

I think you got that backward. The Dems under Clinton required banks to lower their standards because too many minorities weren’t qualifying (it’s racism, don’t you know) and so the inevitable happened when the economy had a little bump in the road.

MarkW
Reply to  Richard Patton
March 13, 2019 4:01 pm

Banks refusing to loan to people who weren’t qualified was why the Democrats ordered the banks to lower their standards.

MarkW
Reply to  Richard Patton
March 13, 2019 4:01 pm

The banks standards, not the Democrats standards. Everyone knows that Democrats don’t have standards.

Louis Hooffstetter
Reply to  MarkW
March 13, 2019 4:18 pm

Yep. Here’s a crude but good explanation:
https://www.slideshare.net/guestd5ab54/the-subprime-primer

March 13, 2019 12:10 pm

AOC is an example of what results after four years of Leftist indoctrination which was masquerading as a college education. That this same sort of thing is happening to many of our children is a threat to American freedom and prosperity.

John Doran
March 13, 2019 12:26 pm

Soros funded airhead spouts nonsense, betrays complete ignorance of how business works, is tipped for future President.

At least the liar orange clown has some experience.

We live in the most interesting times.

March 13, 2019 12:28 pm

The Democrats, with their preda-tort bar supporters, are always looking for the deepest pocket book to sue.

If you followed AO-C’s logic, then banks and credit unions would be liable for auto-accidents on cars that they hold a bank loan on. Of course such a system of shared liability would then instantly make bank loans un-affordable and/or completely un-available.

Reply to  Joel O'Bryan
March 13, 2019 4:24 pm

“No Representative Ocasio. If we became responsible for such problems, based on our lending associations, it would create a very complicated precedent.

For example, a college degree is an indication that the holder of the degree has the capacity to understand the theory associated with the degree program; it is an indication of competence. But, with respect to you, your current position, and your ability to do harm, Boston University would have such unlimited liability that they would have to revoke your degree.

So, no, no competent or reasonable person would assume liability on our part. I can only think that such an assertion or assumption would be related to some sort of political stunt.”

JBom
March 13, 2019 12:44 pm

Maybe in the future her “Central Committee”, the white-guy in Tennessee and the india-guy (illegal?) in NYC, will get more on the ball and pass something legitimate to her to spout about!

Ha ha 😀

William
March 13, 2019 1:16 pm

She is executing a green fascist plan to enforce progressive authoritarianism through regulated industries like banking, insurance, credit card processing. Avoiding those pesky constitutional limits to power.

Marcos
March 13, 2019 1:19 pm

I would really like to know what Leftist NGO provides her with her talking points and questions

TonyL
Reply to  Marcos
March 13, 2019 2:33 pm

AOC is an actress. She meant Keystone, and merely messed up her lines.
So who is pulling her strings?
Apparently a new group calling themselves the “Justice Democrats”. A hard-left group with a virulent anti-American agenda. They also claim credit for the election of House members Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and four others.

Here is a video which is making waves all over the interwebs. It is a wonder that it has not been censored into oblivion yet. It is long, but well worth the time.
An “OMG moment”, or a “Crazy Tin-Foil Hat Conspiracy” You decide.

Gamecock
Reply to  TonyL
March 13, 2019 3:41 pm

I watched that vid, sent to me by a friend. As I watched, I thought, “Outlandish! Conpiratory!”

When done, I looked up Justice Democrats on duh web. OMG! WTF! It’s all TRUE! They aren’t even trying to hide it!

-Cortez is scripted by Cenk Uygur and Saikat Chakrabarti of Justice Democrats.

The spooky thing is the parallels between -Cortez and Obama.

Pop Piasa
March 13, 2019 1:32 pm

How long do they think they can keep cram-programming this blank cortex on the way to congressional chambers, before she befuddles more facts and history and really embarrasses the Dems?
She has become the ultimate poster child for raising the minimum age to run for public office.

Steve O
March 13, 2019 1:53 pm

Confusing Keystone with Keystone XL is inconsequential. What we should be concerned about is that Democrats are behaving in a harassing, or even a threatening manner to a major lender in an effort to discourage them from financing projects they don’t like.

CD in Wisconsin
March 13, 2019 2:13 pm

“…Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago.

“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing….”

When AOC says “paid for,” I presume she means that Wells Fargo financed it. So okay, let’s apply AOC’s school of thought here to another situation.

Let’s say I buy a new car, and my local bank finances the purchase of it for me by giving me a new car loan. If I get into an accident with the new car that is my fault, I can argue that the bank is responsible for repairing the damage (as opposed to my insurance company) because they financed the purchase of the car.

If there is a law that arguably makes a finance company responsible for the operation of something they merely financed, I would like to see it. If that law does not exist, then it appears as though individuals like AOC reserve some right to assign responsibility for an incident based on their preconceived beliefs and ideas alone rather than on any law. It isn’t entirely unlike taking the law into your own hands and locking up people as you see fit.

In a somewhat related vein, AOC has already stated that she is starting an Orwellian thought-criminals list of congresspeople in her own party who don’t vote the way she expects them to. She might well have much of the MSM to help her compile the list.

This is just my opinion for whatever it’s worth: The more the Democrats veer to the far left, the more they tend to display a willingness to manifest totalitarian thinking and totalitarian ways of doing things. If there is a growing intolerance for diversity of thought and “Orwellian thought-crime” from the opposition in this country, the more is starts to worry me. The far right might well manifest the same thing.

The younger generation today that did not grow up during the Cold War appears to lack any real understanding about why we fought it. Seeing some of them find there way to Congress is highly disturbing.

KetilM
March 13, 2019 2:43 pm

Some people think she is just an actress, and that the people behind her are the really dangerous ones.
Conspiracy or not, it an interesting thought….

Davis
March 13, 2019 2:43 pm

Don’t let facts get in a lefty’s way.

Besides, it is just oil, clean it up, fix the pipe, and get on with life.

drednicolson
Reply to  Davis
March 14, 2019 1:33 am

Yes. Crude oil is messy but for the most part chemically inert. It’s hard to even light on fire.

Meanwhile the REMs needed by many “green” technologies are highly reactive and can do some nasty things to the local environment should they leak out.

March 13, 2019 2:44 pm

Alexandriia Occasional-Cortex lives on Planet X which has quite different facts to here to Earth.

WR2
March 13, 2019 3:41 pm

AOC is so condescendingly clueless. She wants to blame banks for oil spills and climate change. Hey AOC, how about take that one step further, and blame consumers of fossil fuels (like YOU!)? You refuse to stop flying or riding in ubers, but somehow it’s everyone else’s fault?

Still waiting for those climate catastrophes that were predicted 20 years ago.

Ve2
March 13, 2019 4:56 pm

How is it possible the every time someone opens their mouth they say something more stupid than the time they did before.

March 13, 2019 5:04 pm

AOC is dangerous. Ignore her stupidity, she is either useful idiot or fellow traveler. Her job is shift the Overton Window to the left, sharply.

The key to statements about the pipeline is not that she got the pipeline wrong. She was trying to make the financiers of the pipeline liable for a leak.

That is a very dangerous concept and goes hand in hand with the Green New Deal. In order to stop companies that are deemed “evil” extending liability for environment damage to financial institutions they do business with. With a mere suggestion from the gov’t financial institutions would choke off banking for targeted companies or industries. Operation Chokepoint writ large.

Don’t be lulled. She putting out dangerous ideas, and getting them into the public sphere, meanwhile too many people laugh and point at her “mistakes”.

kim
Reply to  John Mount
March 13, 2019 5:37 pm

Yup, the interesting point is that someone so dangerous can be so amusing. Stealthy, and scary.
==============================

kim
March 13, 2019 5:34 pm

Yet only one here has hinted that pipelines are the SAFEST way to transport hydrocarbons. They are way safer than trucks or trains.

So much ignorance, so little time.

By the way, re Alexa, don’t the ignorant would be demagogues deserve representation too?
==================

Pamela Gray
March 13, 2019 6:31 pm

Lol! She will soon question why the interviewee stipulates that the world is round, and asks why the interviewee paid for ads that try to convince the public with such racist round world views.

Joey
March 13, 2019 7:21 pm

Unearned confidence of that about which one is ignorant always has the brightest glow.

Jim
March 14, 2019 3:02 am

A time traveling pipeline from the future traveled back in time, spilled the oil, and traveled back to the future, just to help AOC out with her New Green Deal! LOL

Jerry 2
March 14, 2019 7:22 am

Let’s run our Nuclear Country on the scientific expertise of a “Bar Tender”.

Maybe, in this modern age, we should have some qualifications on who gets to become a Senator and/or Representative.

OR, maybe, the Republicans used a “False Flag” to get her elected.

Opps. Need more popcorn.

Bull Durham
March 14, 2019 8:05 am

The story going around I like best is that blondes now are telling Alexandria Occasional Cortex jokes…

Dave
March 14, 2019 10:00 am

When I watch these House inquisitions, I always wonder why the people being questioned by leftist / fascists like AOC don’t insist that the questioner rephrase the questions without the accusatory, unrelated, or just peripheral, social justice themes in them. Refusing to answer questions constitutes contempt, but insisting on clear questions without the add-on social justice themes doesn’t. If they persist until the questioner is forced to phrase the question in adult language, ie, not college-speak, eventually the questioner will be forced to withdraw the question entirely or make it clear that it’s a loaded, illegitimate question…and the person being questioned can go back to the same tactic until something like grown-up discourse happens. This assumes the leftist / socialist / fascist is able to engage in that. Why these businessmen and women act like scared little kids when facing morons like AOC is a mystery to me. If they can handle running multi-national corporations, they can certainly handle idiots like AOC. Maybe class in handling politicians and political inquisitions is in order for executives…

Patrick MJD
March 15, 2019 12:13 am

Ah but it will has going to have happened.