New York state of mind

[BoSoxGal]

Who is excited about the Democratic candidate for mayor of NYC??!

Zohran Mamdani




The future is here and the MAGA desperation to hold onto the past is going to be defeated.



All you fucking fascists bound to lose!

[Scooter]

It was pretty disgusting to see the doyens of the Democratic establishment rally around the serial sexual abuser Cuomo. Kirsten Gillibrand's endorsement was particularly obscene, given that she led the charge that saw Al Franken leave the Senate over behaviour that was far more benign.

If he wins in November (far from a sure thing with Adams and probably Cuomo staying in the race), one would hope that Democrats will take a page from his book by listening to the needs of their constituents and crafting policy proposals accordingly.

But yes, seeing the MAGAts set their hair on fire over his win was quite satisfying.

[BoSoxGal]

Yes, I am fed up with the Democratic Party’s desperate grasping to maintain power while coddling extreme elders and also someone of Cuomo’s character.

Senator Franken was a real loss to the Senate and his behavior perhaps distasteful but not remotely worthy of #metoo cancellation. Shame on Gillibrand for her actions then and now.

I defended Biden but I recognize that he really screwed us over by failing to keep his promise to be a bridge to younger leadership. I think it’s time for us to hand the reins to younger leadership as they are the ones who will have to endure the world today’s policies are building.

Monday I attended a Zoom meeting with my Congressman Jake Auchincloss and 600 of my district neighbors. I’ve been following Auchincloss’s email and social media updates for a couple of years, but this was the first time I’ve heard him speak at length on a wide range of issues and I was left very impressed and hopeful.

They can’t do worse.

[Scooter]

[liberty]

The little bit I know about him indicates he's a supporter of Hamas and Iran. After all, he's made no condemnation of either, a brutal terrorist organization and a brutal supporter of terrorist organizations.

As for all the things he claims he's going to do in New York City where is he going to get the money? New York City isn't a sovereign government that can print its own currency. And if he tries to seize the wealth of the wealthy, they're just going to leave.

I believe we're allowing too many people into this country who do not have a tradition of democracy and see no advantage in our Constitution. In fact, they see it as a hindrance to getting what they want. I think most of the people who come here don't come for freedom; they come for money. As we say, filthy lucre.

[Big RR]

I think most of the people who come here don't come for freedom; they come for money.

Perhaps, but then until your belly is full, the idea of democracy is an abstraction without any connection to reality. The poor come to the US for work, and then stay for the freedom. But I will concede that many of the wealthy arriving here don't want to deal with democracy, only to enhance their profits. Indeed, democracy and the rights of the populace only gets in the way of that.

[Big RR]

BSG--re Mamdani, I am concerned as to whether he can win a general election, even in NYC, and Curtis Sliwa as a mayor scares the hell out of me. I don't think he is an extremist, but his sound bites make it easy to try and characterize him as one (as the Cuomo campaign showed), and the general electorate will not be as receptive to his reputation as the democrats are. He will have to run a good campaign to win, and I hope he can. FWIW, it's pretty scary to think someone like Sliwa could win; like Trump, the man is a know nothing (I've heard him many times in radio interviews) and a legend in his own mind who (like Trump) will be manipulated by his handlers.

Liberty--

indicates he's a supporter of Hamas and Iran. After all, he's made no condemnation of either

I haven't either, but I hardly support them. And, FWIW, the mayor of NYC has very little to do with US foreign policy, so what's the big deal in your mind?

[ex-khobar Andy]

Mamdani gives me pause and this is why. I like what I have read so far. He appears to be pragmatic: maybe he is the direction I want the Dems to go in. They cannot trade on past glories: yes indeed we have organized labor (i.e., unions) to thank for a five day week, bans on child labor, safety at work legislation and so on. But the reality now is that about 11% (I just looked it up: my guess was 10%) of the workforce belongs to a union - that mine is spent.

I'm not a citizen so I don't vote. But I am allowed to give money, so I do. I would have voted for H Clinton and Harris. And I certainly have no objection to a Muslim president. (I'd rather see an atheist but that's another castle in the air.) But if a woman automatically - and of course wrongly - loses 3% of the voting population just because she is a woman; and if a Muslim automatically - and just as wrongly - loses 5% of the voting population just because s/he is a Muslim: then give me a plain vanilla white man at the next election.

It sounds like a dreadful statement. Whoever the Dems pick next go-around, make sure it's a white guy. Could I be any more racist and sexist? We have to get our country back and if that's what it takes, so be it.

[BoSoxGal]

I definitely agree that Mamdani wouldn't fly at the national level - but NYC is another animal altogether. I seriously hope Andrew Cuomo reads the writing on the wall and does not run as an independent - his time is behind him and he needs to rise above his massive ego.

While I was researching this morning I came across this interesting chart:



Which seems to encapsulate everything that is wrong with American democracy today in a nutshell.

We had 64% voter turnout in the general election 2024, down from an all time high of 66% in 2020. Why are so many people voluntarily disenfranchised? Nearly 90 million eligible voters just stayed home.

Only 30% of Democrats in NYC voted in the primary Mamdani seems to have won.

Yeah I pretty much agree that we are not likely to elect a woman or a person of color in 2028. I'm not sure we could even elect a gay white man like Pete Buttigieg. I think the Democratic Party is flailing and I don't have great confidence in it getting its act together in the next few years, although I sure hope it does.

People need to give a sh*t and it seems like a lot just don't. If King Trump doesn't wake the sleeping giant, whatever will?

[Big RR]

Mamdani aside, the sad thing is the state of politics that would give us Cuomo (who had to resign as NY governor) and Sliwa (who faked his own kidnapping and lied many times over the years) as viable candidates. And then Adams who made his devil's deal with Trump is also running as an independent. Is this really among the best candidates that a big city like NY can find?

[Sue U]

I'll vote for anyone who's got Madhur Jaffrey on his team.

[liberty]

BSG--re Mamdani, I am concerned as to whether he can win a general election, even in NYC, and Curtis Sliwa as a mayor scares the hell out of me. I don't think he is an extremist, but his sound bites make it easy to try and characterize him as one (as the Cuomo campaign showed), and the general electorate will not be as receptive to his reputation as the democrats are. He will have to run a good campaign to win, and I hope he can. FWIW, it's pretty scary to think someone like Sliwa could win; like Trump, the man is a know nothing (I've heard him many times in radio interviews) and a legend in his own mind who (like Trump) will be manipulated by his handlers.

Liberty--

indicates he's a supporter of Hamas and Iran. After all, he's made no condemnation of either

I haven't either, but I hardly support them. And, FWIW, the mayor of NYC has very little to do with US foreign policy, so what's the big deal in your mind?

If the Nazis were empowered today and had recently been active, what would you think of someone who did not actually condemn them?

I see little difference between the Nazis, Iran, and Hamas; all view people as little more than cattle to be used. If you buy the narrative that the dead civilians in Gaza are solely the fault of Israel and not Hamas, there is no hope for you. If the German Nazis in World War Two had thought that human shields would help them in their struggle against the Allies, they would have used them too.

[Big RR]

I'll condemn action, but won't ordinarily condemn individuals or groups of people for their beliefs. I might call them deluded, even stupid, but I save condemnation for actions, not beliefs.

[liberty]

Mamdani gives me pause and this is why. I like what I have read so far. He appears to be pragmatic: maybe he is the direction I want the Dems to go in. They cannot trade on past glories: yes indeed we have organized labor (i.e., unions) to thank for a five day week, bans on child labor, safety at work legislation and so on. But the reality now is that about 11% (I just looked it up: my guess was 10%) of the workforce belongs to a union - that mine is spent.

I'm not a citizen so I don't vote. But I am allowed to give money, so I do. I would have voted for H Clinton and Harris. And I certainly have no objection to a Muslim president. (I'd rather see an atheist but that's another castle in the air.) But if a woman automatically - and of course wrongly - loses 3% of the voting population just because she is a woman; and if a Muslim automatically - and just as wrongly - loses 5% of the voting population just because s/he is a Muslim: then give me a plain vanilla white man at the next election.

It sounds like a dreadful statement. Whoever the Dems pick next go-around, make sure it's a white guy. Could I be any more racist and sexist? We have to get our country back and if that's what it takes, so be it.

It's not race, religion, ethnicity, or sex that matters; what truly matters is mindset. As a Democrat myself, I genuinely feel that the Democratic Party includes many people who have no issue with China's slow extermination of the Uyghur people in northwestern China. I believe some of those same individuals would have no problem supporting the extermination of Americans they disagree with. The only real safeguard we have is respect for the Constitution. And I believe that many in the Democratic Party lack that respect, particularly for the Constitution as it was written. If the Constitution is not interpreted as written, then we no longer have a constitution. We are left only with the whims of those in power deciding what it means, and with that, all true protections vanish.

[BoSoxGal]

I'll vote for anyone who's got Madhur Jaffrey on his team.

[MajGenl.Meade]

We are left only with the whims of those in power deciding what it means, and with that, all true protections vanish.

Again, you're salivating long after the dog-treats were passed out. "Those in power" are the Trump anti-USA cabal and they are already a long way towards making protections and the Constitution vanish.

[liberty]

We are left only with the whims of those in power deciding what it means, and with that, all true protections vanish.

Again, you're salivating long after the dog-treats were passed out. "Those in power" are the Trump anti-USA cabal and they are already a long way towards making protections and the Constitution vanish.

You need to try harder than that, Meade. I know you're smarter than this. The president has a lot of power, but it’s not unlimited—and there are safeguards against overreach. One thing he has no power over is time: in a little over three years, he will leave office. And if the system doesn’t prevent him from staying beyond that, there will be a revolution in this country by those of us who still believe in the Constitution.

What truly matters in this country—at least to patriotic Americans—is the system and its safeguards, not any one individual. The reason Trump was elected wasn’t because he was loved, but because he was the only one who seemed willing to take action when action was needed.

[liberty]

We are left only with the whims of those in power deciding what it means, and with that, all true protections vanish.

Again, you're salivating long after the dog-treats were passed out. "Those in power" are the Trump anti-USA cabal and they are already a long way towards making protections and the Constitution vanish.

You need to try harder than that, Meade. I know you're smarter than this. The president has a lot of power, but it’s not unlimited, and there are safeguards against overreach. One thing he has no power over is time: in a little over three years, he will leave office. And if the system doesn’t prevent him from staying beyond that, there will be a revolution in this country by those of us who still believe in the Constitution.

What truly matters in this country, at least to patriotic Americans, is the system and its safeguards, not any one individual. The reason Trump was elected wasn’t because he was loved, but because he was the only one who seemed willing to take action when action was needed.

[Scooter]

Except that those "safeguards" are supposed to be Congress and the Supreme Court, neither of which has proven willing and/or able to do their job in upholding the rule of law.

[MajGenl.Meade]

lib, let me help you. "cabal" is not one person. It is a lot of people. It includes Congress (Repugnican majority Trump ass-kissers) and Trump's hand-picked Supreme Court majority. If you don't see the anti-Constitution overreach of Drumpf, Hogsbreath, JabFricknigKoontJr, Rubber-o and all the other fascistic running dogs of the billionaire hegemony . . . which is already scrapping and proposes to scrap more of this country's legal methods of governance, then you are willfully blind. Not to mention culpable