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Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez shared a wild story about what happens when politicians watch too much Fox News.

Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez shared a wild story about what happens when politicians watch too much Fox News.

When Alexandria Oscasio-Cortez (D-NY) completed her historic election to Congress in 2018, plenty of people wondered if her momentum would carry over when she was off the campaign trail and forced to participate in the much quieter world of legislating.

Needless to say, she hasn’t missed a beat.

Part of what has kept AOC in the public spotlight is the unique approach she has taken to asking questions during congressional hearings.


Some people think she’s too flashy -- all spark and no substance. While her fans, and even some of her critics, have applauded her for asking the tough and honest questions that often get left behind in the hallowed halls of Congress.

During an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Myers” AOC said the reason her questions go viral isn’t because there’s anything special about her, other than her “secret” of paying her staff a living wage.

While noting she pays every member of her staff a living wage, no one makes less than $52,000, she even suggested Republicans do the same if they want to have better questions for their next hearing.

“If you pay your staff, you’ll be prepared,” she quipped.

AOC said it’s important because she’s been shocked at how uninformed many of her congressional colleagues are.

"One of the side-effects of this kind of Fox News lunacy is that other actual members of Congress believe it, and see it uncritically," she said. "So I was on the floor [of the House] once and this guy came up to me, and he was like, 'Is it true that you got $10 million from Netflix?' And I was like, 'No?' And it was like, in the well—we're voting on, like, gun reform. And I'm like, what else do you not know?This is concerning."

Then, things got a little weird, when AOC joked about all of the criticism she gets from moderate Democrats and conservatives. When Myers asked what that was all about, she wondered out loud, “Why are so many grown men obsessed with this 29-year-old?” before looking down at her dress and deciding maybe that’s a question not worth dwelling on.

However, she admitted that sometimes it’s at least entertaining. “It’s really funny and the conspiracy theories are great, too.”

But regardless of your political views, AOC makes a great point. We miss the days when congressional staffers and elected officials themselves were treasure troves of knowledge and experience.

Our government is meant to reflect and enforce our collective values. So, if we truly care about having an informed citizenry it’s time to insist that our members of Congress reflect that value by hiring, and paying, the best staffers available to help them do the best job of representing the people who sent them to Congress.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

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Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

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A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

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An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

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Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

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via PamTina_/Twitter

Pam's little brother is so sweet.

Pam has a little brother, who recently learned that he is actually her half-brother.

Of course, half-siblings are still very much siblings, but Pam's brother doesn't quite grasp the concept yet and seems upset about having to part with 50% of his sister.

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