On the record · Updated October 1, 2026
24 things Ritchie Torres said, verbatim, from July 1, 2026 to September 18, 2026, each linked to where it ran. Grouped by the story each one belongs to.
More on the record
Posted it themselves
“It is one thing to merely see oneself as a victim. It is another to objectively be a victim. Israelis were objectively victims of October 7th—the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Any suggestion to the contrary is anti-Israel activism camouflaged as journalism.”
Posted it themselves
“The Trump Administration never takes responsibility for the disasters that happen on its watch. So I asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent a simple question: What is the statute of limitations on the Joe Biden blame game?”
on Treasury Secretary Bessent facing questions about blaming Biden for economic troubles
Posted it themselves
“I recently conducted an oversight inspection of the Delaney Detention Center, a billion-dollar boondoggle that has more to do with cruelty than with public safety. Most of the immigrants detained at Delaney have no history of serious or violent crime. None. Immigrants like Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo are dying senselessly in a detention facility that has no reason to exist.”
Posted it themselves
“Congressman George Latimer and I conducted an oversight inspection of the Delaney Detention Center. The overwhelming majority of the detainees held there have no criminal history. None. The Trump administration is squandering a staggering $1 billion on a detention facility that should not exist in the first place.”
Posted it themselves
“Thank you to Governor Hochul for delivering nearly $10 million for a cath lab at Lincoln Hospital. Without a cath lab, Bronx patients experiencing a major heart attack would have to be transferred to Bellevue in Manhattan. Every second counts. Every delay can be dangerous, even deadly. I fought for the funding. Governor Hochul delivered for the people of the Bronx, as did the Bronx Borough President and the State Legislature. A team effort to save lives in the Bronx.”
Posted it themselves
“Thank you to Governor Hochul for delivering nearly $10 million for a cath lab at Lincoln Hospital. Without a cath lab, Bronx patients experiencing a major heart attack would have to be transferred to Bellevue in Manhattan. Every second counts. Every delay can be dangerous, even”[post continues]
on new state funding for a cardiac catheterization lab at Lincoln Hospital
As printed
“Depression is not an emotion, it’s a condition,”
on how depression should be understood, in the context of Tom Kean
As printed
“You should no more blame someone for their depression than you would blame a diabetic for the inability to generate insulin. It’s a condition beyond their control. When someone comes out as struggling with depression, the proper response is empathy and sympathy, not disdain and dismissiveness.”
on responding to someone's depression with empathy rather than blame, regarding Tom Kean
Posted it themselves
“I delivered $500,000 for the Webster PAL, one of the most vital community centers in the South Bronx. Every dollar invested in youth programming generates an estimated $3 to $13 in savings. Investing in our young people is not only good morals. It’s good economics. It’s not”[post continues]
Posted it themselves
“I delivered $500,000 for the Webster PAL, one of the most vital community centers in the South Bronx. Every dollar invested in youth programming generates an estimated $3 to $13 in savings. Investing in our young people is not only good morals. It’s good economics. It’s not only the right thing to do. It is one of the most effective forms of public safety—keeping our young people engaged, off the streets, and away from the entanglements of gangs and gun violence.”
Posted it themselves
“Luigi Mangione is a cold-blooded assassin who belongs in prison for the rest of his life. Any civilization that lionizes a cold-blooded murderer has forfeited the right to call itself civilized.”
Posted it themselves
“OpenAI agents escaped their testing environment, coordinated in secret, and hacked Hugging Face. I asked Treasury Secretary Bessent if the Trump Administration would back any new AI safety rule in response. His response: “I haven’t seen anything yet.””
Posted it themselves
“Turns out #CancelThanksgiving is not a winning message.”
Posted it themselves
“None of us on the mainland should presume to know what is best for Puerto Rico. The people of Puerto Rico must determine their own political future. Rather than imposing a preferred status from on high, Congress should commit to codifying whatever path the island democratically chooses. Let the people of Puerto Rico decide.”
on Puerto Rico's democratic right to choose its own status
As printed
“public office carries a duty of transparency.”
As printed
“At the same time, public office carries a duty of transparency,”
As printed
“the public has a right to an honest explanation.”
As printed
“When a public official is absent for an extended period, the public has a right to an honest explanation.”
on Rep. Tom Kean Jr.'s absence from Congress while treating depression
PBS NewsHour - Politics WATCH LIVE: House meets as Rep. Tom Kean Jr. says he was absent from Congress while recovering from depression ›
Posted it themselves
“Hasan Piker asserts that America is “worse than al-Qaeda pound-for-pound,” citing the number of deaths he attributes to U.S. foreign policy. Yet rather strangely, he has a rule against criticizing Mao Zedong, whose rule was responsible for an estimated 40–80 million deaths.”[post continues]
Posted it themselves
“The most extreme expression of unrepentant antisemitism in American politics is Dan Bilzerian, who has drawn far less public opprobrium than he deserves. Discarding the usual code words such as “Zionists,” Bilzerian scapegoats Jews by name, openly declaring: “It is not red against blue. It is us against Jew.” When he is not trafficking in Holocaust denial, he releases AI-generated campaign videos suggesting that our view of Hitler—whom he whitewashes as an “Austrian painter”—should be “revisited.” What distinguishes Dan Bilzerian from others who share his pathological preoccupation with the Jewish people and the Jewish state? His conspiratorial Jew-hatred is unfiltered by euphemism. He makes no attempt to hide it. He flaunts it. For he is proud of it. The rest of us should be ashamed.”
Posted it themselves
“A violent agitator disrupted Shabbat services at Central Synagogue, assaulting a congregant and a security guard. Just as troubling as the violence itself is the political climate that emboldens it. American politics has become so obsessively antagonistic toward “Zionists” that even a synagogue is seen as fair game for disruption and desecration. No Jewish space is considered sacred enough to be left untouched. Antisemitism has risen to historic highs in America’s most Jewish city, with more hate crimes against Jews than against all other communities combined. Instead of cooling tensions, both the far left and the far right keep pouring gasoline on the fires of hate, fear, and blame.”
Posted it themselves
“A violent extremist stabbed a Jewish New Yorker and an Asian New Yorker while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” The attacks serve as a bloody reminder that we are living in an age of heightened hatred and antisemitism, with hate crimes against the Jewish community reaching levels rarely”
Posted it themselves
“Calling a Black man a “monkey” is racist. Full stop. If Wajahat Ali and Rula Jebreal were on the far right, no one on the far left would have any trouble condemning them for dehumanizing a Black man in racist terms. The silence is deafening.”
on commentators using a racist slur against a Black man without backlash from the left
Posted it themselves
“The extremes of American politics love to blame Jews for antisemitism rather than the antisemites themselves. Let me put it plainly: there is absolutely no justification for antisemitism. There never has been, and there never will be. No amount of victim-blaming or gaslighting”[post continues]
on rejecting blame placed on Jews for antisemitism
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