Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has delivered an impassioned speech about her Green New Deal to combat climate change, saying radical action, not a middle-of-the-road approach is needed.

The New York congresswoman joined Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at a rally at Howard University in Washington on Monday, organized by activist group and big-time GND supporters the Sunrise Movement.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed politicians for not acting on climate change in the past, in particular, for not taking cues from NASA, which first warned Congress of the risks of climate change in 1989.

“I will be damned if the same politicians who refused to act then are going to try to come back today and say we need a middle-of-the-road approach to save our lives,” she said.

She referenced new reports saying that, for the first time in history, we have reached global atmospheric levels of carbon above 415 parts per million. 

“Frankly, there is no reason for us to be comfortable right now. We are at 415,” she said. “And I’m not here to guarantee to you that everything will be ok, but what I am here to say is that we must try.

“Frankly, there is no reason for us to be comfortable right now.”

“We cannot and we will not accept anything less than a solution to save ourselves, and that’s exactly what [the Green New Deal] says.” she explained.

SEE ALSO: AOC obliterates claim that fighting climate change is ‘elitist’ in stirring speech

Ocasio-Cortez urged people to educate others on the deal, “elevate our collective consciousness,” and have the big conversations about climate change.

“Our history may be written, but our future is not,” she said. “We are at a crossroads unlike any we have seen before, but the good thing is that the average everyday person has never been more powerful in human history than it is today.”

Ocasio-Cortez slammed disinformation spread about the GND, something she’s done in the past when she took aim at claims that the deal and being concerned about the environment is “elitist.”

“We have never been more powerful and Big Money has never been weaker and that is exactly why they are fighting so hard against the Green New Deal,” she said.

“What we are fighting against is a logic that says we can extract enough off of human life and our environmental resources to the point of destroying our own humanity just to post profit. No more. We will not accept that anymore, we cannot.”

Sanders also made the case for radical action on climate change in his speech, and according to CNN, called for an end to “all subsidies and tax breaks for the oil and gas companies,” in a prior interview.

“When you’re dealing with the future of the planet and making sure that our kids and our grandchildren have a healthy and habitable world in which to live, I don’t know how you go too far,” Sanders said. 

“This is an existential threat, not just to the United States, but to the entire planet.”

You can watch the whole rally on Facebook. AOC comes in around the two-hour, nine-minute mark.

One letter of the alphabet has more currency than all the others combined. That letter is “x”. 

Unlike in mathematics, the value of “x” is known in the era of internet messaging. That “x” is most often used to convey a kiss when affixed to the end of a text, DM, or email. 

And in an era when women are met with hostility and vitriol on the internet, this tiny, inconsequential letter can be used to communicate solidarity and support during particularly dark times.

There was a time when I thought the addition of an “x” from strangers and professional acquaintances slightly disingenuous. Those days are gone, though. After a bout of deeply vicious online harassment, I realised kindness on the internet was something that’s in all too short a supply. This profoundly isolating experience made me completely change my mind about how I felt about receiving “digital kisses” from strangers online. 

SEE ALSO: Twitter cliques might feel like high school, but their existence is tied to our human nature

Last September, I endured a two-day stint of particularly aggressive harassment on Twitter after I wrote an article arguing that women and LGBTQ people shouldn’t be the punchlines of political jokes. Seems like a pretty reasonable point to make, right? Well, apparently not. I ended up on the receiving end of insults from a group of free-speech defenders who decided I needed to be put in my place. As well as hurling a lot of nasty abuse at me, these trolls went through my recent tweets and personal essays I’d written about my love life. They mocked the fact that a recent Hinge match had stood me up for date, and they told me I should change careers and find something I’m actually good at. According to one troll, it’s “unsurprising” that I got stood up because my dates must look me up and “realise what a childish nightmare” I’d be to date. Um, OK?

For two days straight, I lived in a state of heart-racing anxiety, constantly checking my phone to try to stem the torrent of abuse. Incidentally, this bout of trolling kicked off on my best friend’s 30th birthday, which basically meant I ended up sitting in the corner of a sticky dance floor in a Clapham nightclub at midnight, trawling through my mentions to make sure everything was under control. Even though I was in a crowded room full of people, I have never felt more alone in my whole life. When friends realised what was going on, they swooped into my DMs to express their support and solidarity. They sent heart emoji and “digital kisses”. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you’ve been up against a barrage of vitriol, it was profoundly touching.

Since that incident, I’ve paid closer attention to women’s tweets about harassment and abuse. In the mentions, you’ll always find the same thing: scores of other women responding with messages of love and support — usually signed off with a kiss or a heart emoji. 

“It’s definitely like a digital hug in solidarity.”

Dr Mariann Hardey — professor in marketing at Durham University Durham University Business School’., whose research focuses on how women share their stories of chronic pain on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit — says the “x” has become “a way of showing advocacy and support from an anonymous internet stranger” — particularly among women. 

“The advocacy of the kiss is a really interesting new cultural form,” Hardey tells me. “It’s that extension of kindness in reaching out and the expectation of nothing in return.” She’s noticed that the bicep emoji is also a popular “show of strength” when people are sharing stories that are personal, sensitive, and traumatic. 

Hardey says that an “x” can also be used in isolation without any further words to communicate support. “Just an “x” as a reply as a response is acceptable, you don’t have to have an extra narrative explaining what you meant,” she adds. “In those contexts I’ve never read it as something that’s overtly sexual or flirtatious — it’s definitely like a digital hug in solidarity.”

Last week was one marked by extreme misogynistic vitriol aimed at UK Labour MP Jess Phillips. UKIP candidate Carl Benjamin “joked” in a YouTube video that he might rape Phillips. “There’s been an awful lot of talk about whether I would or wouldn’t rape Jess Phillips,” Benjamin said on his YouTube channel Sargon of Akkad on April 26. “I’ve been in a lot of trouble for my hardline stance of not even raping her. I suppose with enough pressure I might cave. But let’s be honest, nobody’s got that much beer.” 

The abuse didn’t end there. Phillips also tweeted a screenshot of Twitter’s response to her reporting someone who said she needed “a good fucking to sort out” her teeth, which Twitter said was not in violation of its rules against abuse. To add insult to injury, Phillips was accosted in the street by a man as she left parliament, who asked why Benjamin isn’t allowed to joke about raping her before yelling, “I pay your wages.”

Phillips told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that she “cried in the street” after hearing Benjamin’s video. Misogynist invective is something Phillips has been dealing with since becoming an MP in 2015. In 2018, she spoke out about receiving 600 rape threats in one night and said she’d “stopped counting” the number of abusive messages she’s received.

One thing that was really heartening to see in the midst of this barrage of misogyny was the messages of solidarity in response to Phillips’ tweets. I could see scores of women responding to her tweets with kind, supportive words, often signed off with one “x” or more. 

Women are harassed on Twitter every 30 seconds, per a major 2018 study by Amnesty International. One of the main problems standing in the way of fully tackling this problem is social media companies’ — particularly Twitter’s — inaction in the face of widespread misogynistic abuse. In the report, Amnesty International’s senior advisor for tactical research, Milena Marin, said:

“Twitter’s failure to crack down on this problem means it is contributing to the silencing of already marginalised voices.” 

“Twitter is a place where racism, misogyny and homophobia are allowed to flourish basically unchecked,” Marin continued. 

It might not seem like much, but showing your support to someone who’s having a really rough time can go a long way. 

While social media companies are often slow to respond to rife online abuse and hostility, the very least we bystanders can do in times like these is express our solidarity and support — whether that means DMing a person to say that you’re sorry to see what’s happening and that they don’t deserve it, or simply tweeting a heart emoji at someone. 

We live in an age where often it feels the default response online is to drag, cancel, and publicly shame. But, what’s the opposite of that? Silence?

It’s all too easy to stay quiet when our friends, acquaintances, and colleagues are being vilified. It’s the speaking up and letting them know they’re supported and loved that takes effort and courage. 

Besides, you never know, your message might arrive when the person needs it the most. 

Be kind out there. xx

Warning: Contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 5.

Not everybody is loving the final Game of Thrones Season.

Despite the show having a solid 91 percent rating overall on Rotten Tomatoes, the current season is only rated 73 percent. And the Season 8 audience score is a not-so-good-at-all 44percent. 

Obviously it was always going to be tricky to please everyone, and it’s worth noting that not all fans feel the same way — there have been plenty of Reddit threads praising the most recent episode, for instance. But still — the anger from some corners is undeniable. 

In a interview with Insider, Pilou Asbæk (aka the recently deceased Euron Greyjoy) addressed it directly.

SEE ALSO: Why that surprise ‘Game of Thrones’ twist was a huge betrayal

“I’m rooting for Dan and David,” Asbæk said, referring to showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff. “For them to be happy with what they have created.”

He went on to say that he thinks, ultimately, they will be happy.

“I think it will stand the test of time.”

“Because right now, people are very angry,” Asbæk said. “Some people are very angry and some people are very happy. I think, guys, just … please. Everyone has done the best work they could, under the circumstances they could, and I think it will stand the test of time.”

“Honestly, I swear to God I think that. So I hope Dan and David are going to end up on the throne.”

It’s a sweet response, but it’s worth noting that Asbæk also admits in that interview that he hasn’t watched the show since he got a part in it — so he can only really judge its merits from an insider’s perspective.

At this point it feels like the show will stand the test of time regardless. It’s already broken ratings records and been hugely successful.

But, whether or not it’ll end on a high note is a whole other question.

May is National Masturbation Month, and we’re celebrating with Feeling Yourself, a series exploring the finer points of self-pleasure.

Everyone’s turn-ons are a little different. We know that. But what about the kinda niche ones, the ones that aren’t explicitly sexual at all?

Thanks to some extremely generous messages, we’ve compiled a list of images, sounds, and other sensory experiences that 19 people find arousing. The responses were incredibly varied, but a few understandable themes — food, water, candles, ASMR-adjacent sounds — came up more than once.

Here’s what everyone said:

1. “The sound of pouring soda into a tall glass with ice in it. Soft boiled eggs are arousing also.”

2. “Power tools.”

3. “The scent of this oatmeal cookie candle from Anthropologie really does it for me — it’s borderline sickeningly sweet, but I love it anyway. Sometimes my roommate catches me full face in candle for maximum effect.”

4. “The dramatic movie intro at theaters when they talk about emergency exits and tell you to turn your phone off and then pop the popcorn and pour the ice and Coke into the glass and say to enjoy the show.”

5. “Honestly, brown butter with sage. Sage is an herb that I truly think has a sexy scent.  Also, eating seafood with my hands. And the crunch of a really good baguette.”

6. “I’d say the, like, slopping sound that water makes on the side of a pool when it’s really quiet.”

SEE ALSO: I sexted with a robot, and so should you

7. “Deep scents: dark chocolate, coffee beans, etc., long car rides, the smell of sunblock.”

8. “Heavy bass and super deep voices! I am v hard of hearing but can still hear low pitches and they make me feel ways about things.”

“Eating seafood with my hands.”

9. “I live with a roommate and have for six years … when I have the house to myself, I inherently feel sexual and have the urge to do something about it. Even if it’s not about being sexual, something about being home alone makes me want to act out and get freaky!”

10. “This one candle that comes in a blue glass jar. It smells like roses and patchouli.”

11. “A freshly cut golf course at dawn, when there’s still dew on the grass and you’re the first one out there so you can see your footprints.”

SEE ALSO: 10 ways to talk dirty without being crippled with embarrassment

12. “Being good at whistling.”

13. “Pulling the tab off a new can of tennis balls and the smell immediately after. Watching people do knife things to food. The gardenias are blooming right now and the first one I smelled this year surprised me in a good way.”

14. “The dull roar of a skateboard coming down the street.”

15. “Less so now, but for a while the scent of Tide detergent had weirdly crossed wires for me.”

16. “Cigarette smoke. Blue light on people dancing at a music festival while the wind is whipping up.”

17. “Faint aromas with an unsure source.”

18. “The sound of a stream in the countryside. Yes!”

19. “A head to toe stretch that lasts for, like, 15 seconds.”