Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the candidate for New York’s 14th Congressional District, was featured in a disastrous PBS interview that shows how truly out of touch she is, with one lame-brained comment made after another. 

Ocasio-Cortez, who is a self-identified Democratic Socialist, has expressed a bizarre hodge-podge of beliefs that includes abolishing ICE, abolishing prisons, abolishing bail, abolishing the 2nd Amendment, abolishing capitalism, free college and 100% forgiveness for student loans, free healthcare for all, government-provided housing for all, and government-provided public jobs for all.

Putting her support behind scary fringe positions that are not only impossible to pay for and illogical, but also completely at odds with the Constitution, is extremely troubling and demonstrates that she’s uninformed to say the least.

Couple that with her young age (28-years-old) and the fact that she has no previous experience, adds yet another dimension of insanity to her candidacy.

If that’s not enough to frighten the average voter, she is also a vicious anti-Semite, who has been endorsed by Jihad-promoting Linda Sarsour, applauds BDS efforts to bankrupt Israel, and, during the PBS interview referred to the “Occupation of Palestine.”

The only people who use the word “Palestine” to describe Israel are anti-Semites who want to see Israel destroyed and replaced by Arabs. There is no such country as Palestine. There is only Israel.

When pressed about her occupation comment and some unbelievable tweets that falsely claimed Israel massacres innocent civilians, Ocasio-Cortez had to admit she is no expert on the Mid-East. 

It is truly frightening to imagine such an unfit, uniformed Anti-Semite representing the State of New York which has the largest Jewish population in America. 

This woman shouldn’t be elected to a local school board, let alone the Congress. She is not only ignorant, but also dangerous and doesn’t reflect the good people of America and what our Representatives should believe. 

If you know anyone in her district, please inform them before tragedy occurs. If she is elected, it will be a nightmare for democracy.

Portugal, a country that has a terrible history of Jewish persecution, is now trying to right the wrong by reaching out to Jewish communities abroad. The Tourism Secretary, Ana Mendes Godinho, is encouraging Jews to both visit and consider living in Portugal. 

During a recent tour of America, she met with community leaders in New York and California, stating: “We have a vast Jewish heritage and a very ancient and profound connection to Jewish communities, with evidence of a Jewish presence in Portugal since 390 AD. We identified as a priority the promoting of the Jewish Legacy in Portugal…It is quite interesting to remember that in the 15th century, circa 20% of the Portuguese population was Jewish, so we always say that every Portuguese may have a Jewish origin.”

She is correct about that, but seems to be glossing over what happened to those people and why the Portuguese Jewish community almost ceased to exist entirely: An Inquisition that forcibly tried to convert Jews, exiled Jews and eventually killed Jews who wanted to maintain their heritage and faith. 

The Inquisition is a very shameful chapter in Spanish/Portuguese history. Most surprising of all, it wasn’t officially ended until 1821! (It started back in the late 1400’s.) The first post-Inquisition synagogue was not founded until 1836 and today, in 2018, the estimated Portuguese Jewish population is less than 2,000 individuals. 

Current governments are not responsible for the actions of their predecessors, of course, and I am genuinely impressed that Portugal is willing to make an effort with the Jewish community. The Tourism Secretary has gone to great lengths to reach out and that’s admirable.

Jews of Sephardic descent whose ancestors were persecuted and exiled during the Spanish Inquisition and/or subsequent Portuguese Inquisition have been able to acquire Portuguese citizenship since 2013. A few thousand have chosen to do so, but there isn’t a huge interest for obvious reasons. 

Personally, I’d be willing to visit Portugal. Living there, however, would be a different story. I’m not convinced it’s a safe area for Jews, given the complicated history of the region. That said, anyone who wants relocate should have the opportunity and I’m glad the Portuguese government has made that an option.