Zohran Mamdani was cross-endorsed by Brad Lander, who is Jewish. Lander finished third.
It's past time to recognize that the Legacy Jewish organizations and the politicians allied with them are trying literally to outlaw discussion of Israeli policy in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Let's even skip Iran for now.
The truth hurts them too much. Israeli cabinet ministers are openly discussing ethnic cleansing of Gazans and their replacement by Jewish settlers. Rather than deal with what Israeli Jews already know (and many support!), they feign ignorance and yell "anti-semitism" at maximum volume. Anything rather than give up the fantasy-Israel that their bubbies told them about.
My friend The Silver Symposium put it well but I'm taking another tack. Sykes, and other never-Trumpers believe in "optimal Conservatism" - fiscal responsibility, strong defense, innovation. Reagan is their "ideal" but he wasn't a Conservative. He was an oligarch (who didn't want equality for so many) plant who exploded the deficit, implemented supply-side economics which made the wealthy uber-rich while doing nothing for the people. Reagan started union busting, borrowed from social security. Strong defense, yes, though part of that was contracts for oligarchs. Bill Clinton was a Conservative. Balanced the budget, implemented NAFTA and workfare. The Dems that followed fixed the economy, governed mostly as conservatives, certainly as centrists. It's time to not govern not to lose but to do what Democrats have stood for: progressive gun control, reasonable tax structure, women's right to choose, civil rights, fix wage inequality, universal health care, give young people a chance in today's world.
As a complete outsider it seems clear that Sykes is a Republican who can tolerate Democratic centrists but not socialists. America needs socialist ideas that favour the working class and the poor. The US needs a General Strike to break both parties. Otherwise you have tweedle dee republicans and tweedle dum democrats. The rich consolidate their wealth and the poor get poorer. Neither party will adhere to the ICJ or the ICC, International law means nothing to them and the rest of the world no longer needs or trusts them.
Remember 179 Jewish citizens were killed in the first intifada. Israel is now guilty of genocide and no longer behaves in accordance with the Jewish faith. Always remember that anti-Zionism Is not anti-semitism. Shalom.
Anti-Zionism is absolutely Anti-Semitism because Zionism was central to Judaism long before the term was invented.
One of the most vile anti-Semitic memes is accusing Jews of genocide for resisting the regime that targets them for genocide. It is like accusing the various WW2 partisan and underground movements of genocide against the Nazis and the various Nazi collaborators.
That's a nice story, but it doesn't square that well with Israeli behavior in Gaza, which on numerous occasions have included fatal strikes on "safe zones" declared by Israel itself. It's even less concordant with cabinet ministers like Smotrich who is calling for the expulsion of Gaza Arabs and their replacement by Jews. It's much easier to attack Hamas that actually to look at what the Israelis are doing, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank that isn't even ruled by Hamas.
Honestly, this all reminds me of 2016 and the DNC reaction to Bernie Sanders popularity. I am so tired of moderates from both parties teaming up to take down progressives, who are the only ones offering anything like what most of the rest of the developed world enjoys: guaranteed healthcare and education, real support for working families with childcare, parental leave, etc. It was the moderates that kept Biden from fully enacting his agenda (remember Manchin and Sinema?). The centrists and the right seem to work best together when their goal is to maintain the status quo. This is why no one likes the Democrats, they don’t stand for real change.
Sanders is not and has never been a Democrat and in at least one important public policy area -- international trade -- his positions are barely distinguishable from Trump's.
I know this is sisyphean, yet I persist. Let’s get over the “boiled frog” thing. It is false. Frogs are not that insensitive or stupid. Warm the water gradually and when they get too hot they jump out. Been tested over and over and over. Find a new metaphor already!
There are days I read these columns (not just yours) plus the reader’s comments and come away more disheartened and confused on where I stand. What’s causing my wobble? Am I sleep deprived… am I dehydrated? Dunno.
I know which party I belong to but hate the dissonance. At my advanced age I will always go for the younger candidate - but NOT Mamdani in this case. Inexperience in leading NYC? Only if you want to end up placating like Trump likes to do. This not a job for training wheels. Give me a break.
Which leads us to Cuomo. We have experienced governing by a flawed individual. (So, who isn’t in thousands of ways?) Which brings us to Lander… Mr Bland. IDK… the whole thing about the cast of candidates for a city of this size is surreal to me.
Which now brings us to Ms Adams… how about putting a “no drama”woman legislator in charge? I think I found my island!I can go back to bed now.
Ms. Adams did a great job getting the recent YIMBY rezoning approved by the City Council. And it was mostly Progressive Democrats who voted for it. Most moderate Democrats voted against it, along with every Republican.
The problem is not that Mamdani is a Progressive is that he is a whacked out nut job.
Have the same reaction toward democrat socialists as I do for maga's. So, the only place to go, and where I have been headed for awhile, is the center. And with that goes the haunting thought, 'will the center hold.' Which also underscores, bolds and italicizes the fact that Independents are the whole ballgame going forward. As far as His Orangeness, the 5 D war strategist, Einstein Economist, Let's Make a Deal president, the Constitution was long ago flushed down the golden toilet. So we can throw away the handkerchief and smelling salts, it was DOA with his second coming.
The famous line about the center holding is by W. B. Yeats in his poem, *The Second Coming*, written in 1919 in the atmosphere of post WW1 Europe during the influenza pandemic.
Thank you so much... I was an English major (a long time ago : ) but did not know the genesis of this phrase. An amazing coincidence that I happened to use the 'second coming' in my comment and had no idea it was the title of his poem.
MARXIST OR MAFIOSO? Those are the choices facing New York City voters in the mayoral race. The least bad choice would include someone who is currently polling at 2% but anyone way down there will stay there. Even if that man is a thoughtful and reasonable candidate. What has happened to our country? Reminds me of our last presidential election. The best and the brightest now avoid politics like the plague.
Cut the B.S JDL talking points. All the Jewish lobby wants is complete and total deference to Israel and orthodox Jewish positions. The audacity to have a position that doesn't align with theirs immediately results in calls of antisemitism.
Not so much any longer. Still, the larger lobbyists organizations aren't advocating for positions other than what I stated. And BTW you kinda proved my point, I must be a "joo" hater cause I object to their overt alignment with a foreign entity.
When it comes from a group that has explicitly supported genocide of Jews, or from people who make apologies for it, like you, it is indeed an attack on Jews and Judaism. That isn't my feeling, that is a fact.
I will say this, Charlie makes several good points but for me, an "old redneck" Badger I look at everyone lining up against Zohran Mamdani and just think Cuomo, Clinton, and the other "status quo" democrats have had their chance and have failed. Maybe Zohran will too, but I think he should be given a chance to prove himself in New York as a mayor.
He has said some things and has advocated for programs I don't necessarily agree with but my God, look at Trump, look at Nancy Mace, look at Ron Johnson, look at MTG, look at little Johnson, and look at Fine from Florida - if he said the same thing about a Jewish candidate he did about Mamdani, he would be skewered, but no, since it's a muslim evidently it is OK.
I am an old curmudgeon but the present Democratic Party needs to be put out of its misery and it is just hanging on with a Cuomo! Let's move our assess into the future, whatever it brings!!
I agree with this. Look at the old guard of the Democratic party who endorsed Cuomo. What can be worse than the Trump administration. Thugs verses people whose heart is in the right place for providing services to the constituents. We have to do something different. We are losing.Don't support a fighter because they support Medicare for all instead of Medicare for none ? Yes, the Progressives can drive you wild with some of their goals. But do you ever notice they aren't selfish with their goals. It is sometimes a little delusional but at least they are not chasing hard working undocumented workers and beating them . We have to be more openminded about the changes that need to take place. And be openminded to those who join the resistance. Remember, Bernie and AOC were the first out there fighting for us.
Charlie Sykes has suddenly become alarmed about the “DSA threat” …but only when it can serve as a sensational national headline out of NYC. Yet in cities like Portland, Oregon, the DSA threat isn’t theoretical—it’s already in power.
To take Portland as one example:
Wes Pelletier, District 2
Sameer Kanal, District 2
Tiffany Koyama Lane, District 3
Mitch Green, District 4
Kate Sykes, District 5
—are all elected Portland City Councilors who are DSA members or aligned with the organization
.
Yet Sykes didn’t care enough to write about the DSA presence in Portland city government —or the other U.S. cities where DSA-linked officials are already governing—until he could leverage it in a sensational NYC story.
Here are just a few other places where DSA-backed candidates are already serving in city government :
Los Angeles: Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto‑Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado
Chicago: Carlos Ramirez‑Rosa, Daniel La Spata, Rossana Rodriguez‑Sanchez, Byron Sigcho‑Lopez, Jeanette Taylor, Andre Vasquez, Angela Clay
Oakland: Carroll Fife
St. Louis: Megan Green
Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks, Nicolas O’Rourke
Tacoma: Jamika Scott
Washington, D.C.: Janeese Lewis George, Zachary Parker
Bottom line: If you're going to raise alarms about socialist inroads in local government, do so with accuracy—not just when it serves a catchy NYC angle. DSA is already a significant force in mainstream politics nationwide—not "about to" be, but already is.
And how many of those are Strong Mayors? The NYC Mayor has a huge amount of power. The City Council is relatively weak, mostly approving the budget and occasionally raising the property tax rate at the behest of the mayor. Unusually it recently enacted major YIMBY changes to the zoning ordinance, the biggest change since the early 1960s. The Mayor controls the schools, public safety, public health, social services, business and building regulation, public housing, public hospitals, jails, and traffic regulations, all with little oversight. The last Mayor with fiscal policies as irresponsible as Mamdani was John Lindsay and he literally led the city -- and nearly the state --into bankruptcy. At least Lindsay wasn't an anti-Semite, though.
The most memorable picture of the Dem Socialists is the one taken in NYC on October 8th where they were celebrating the October 7th attack and one held up a pic of a Swastika on her phone. I remember you posting that Charlie when you were with the Bulwark on October 9th. It was on the front cover of the New York Post.
Hey Charlie, I assume you live along one of the Great Lakes, but I wondered which one? ( I know I could remember which area you live in and probably figure it out, but I was just curious, looking at the scenery with the dogs you post. Guessing Lake Michigan, I don't the think you are North right?
I live very close to Lake Erie, but our lake is pitiful next to yours...lol
Took a break from all the POS bad news and was browsing YouTube. And found . . .
We need a theme song for all of us. I nominate this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP808MiJUcM to play at every single protest and remind us we can, need, to change the world.
To put it in perspective as one person said, he was already dying when he sang this.
Zohran Mamdani was cross-endorsed by Brad Lander, who is Jewish. Lander finished third.
It's past time to recognize that the Legacy Jewish organizations and the politicians allied with them are trying literally to outlaw discussion of Israeli policy in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Let's even skip Iran for now.
The truth hurts them too much. Israeli cabinet ministers are openly discussing ethnic cleansing of Gazans and their replacement by Jewish settlers. Rather than deal with what Israeli Jews already know (and many support!), they feign ignorance and yell "anti-semitism" at maximum volume. Anything rather than give up the fantasy-Israel that their bubbies told them about.
That Hirohito quote was truly bone chilling in view of Trumps latest statements!
My friend The Silver Symposium put it well but I'm taking another tack. Sykes, and other never-Trumpers believe in "optimal Conservatism" - fiscal responsibility, strong defense, innovation. Reagan is their "ideal" but he wasn't a Conservative. He was an oligarch (who didn't want equality for so many) plant who exploded the deficit, implemented supply-side economics which made the wealthy uber-rich while doing nothing for the people. Reagan started union busting, borrowed from social security. Strong defense, yes, though part of that was contracts for oligarchs. Bill Clinton was a Conservative. Balanced the budget, implemented NAFTA and workfare. The Dems that followed fixed the economy, governed mostly as conservatives, certainly as centrists. It's time to not govern not to lose but to do what Democrats have stood for: progressive gun control, reasonable tax structure, women's right to choose, civil rights, fix wage inequality, universal health care, give young people a chance in today's world.
As a complete outsider it seems clear that Sykes is a Republican who can tolerate Democratic centrists but not socialists. America needs socialist ideas that favour the working class and the poor. The US needs a General Strike to break both parties. Otherwise you have tweedle dee republicans and tweedle dum democrats. The rich consolidate their wealth and the poor get poorer. Neither party will adhere to the ICJ or the ICC, International law means nothing to them and the rest of the world no longer needs or trusts them.
Remember 179 Jewish citizens were killed in the first intifada. Israel is now guilty of genocide and no longer behaves in accordance with the Jewish faith. Always remember that anti-Zionism Is not anti-semitism. Shalom.
Anti-Zionism is absolutely Anti-Semitism because Zionism was central to Judaism long before the term was invented.
One of the most vile anti-Semitic memes is accusing Jews of genocide for resisting the regime that targets them for genocide. It is like accusing the various WW2 partisan and underground movements of genocide against the Nazis and the various Nazi collaborators.
That's a nice story, but it doesn't square that well with Israeli behavior in Gaza, which on numerous occasions have included fatal strikes on "safe zones" declared by Israel itself. It's even less concordant with cabinet ministers like Smotrich who is calling for the expulsion of Gaza Arabs and their replacement by Jews. It's much easier to attack Hamas that actually to look at what the Israelis are doing, not just in Gaza, but also in the West Bank that isn't even ruled by Hamas.
Honestly, this all reminds me of 2016 and the DNC reaction to Bernie Sanders popularity. I am so tired of moderates from both parties teaming up to take down progressives, who are the only ones offering anything like what most of the rest of the developed world enjoys: guaranteed healthcare and education, real support for working families with childcare, parental leave, etc. It was the moderates that kept Biden from fully enacting his agenda (remember Manchin and Sinema?). The centrists and the right seem to work best together when their goal is to maintain the status quo. This is why no one likes the Democrats, they don’t stand for real change.
And you should want twenty more Manchins in the Senate from deep red states.
Sanders is not and has never been a Democrat and in at least one important public policy area -- international trade -- his positions are barely distinguishable from Trump's.
I know this is sisyphean, yet I persist. Let’s get over the “boiled frog” thing. It is false. Frogs are not that insensitive or stupid. Warm the water gradually and when they get too hot they jump out. Been tested over and over and over. Find a new metaphor already!
There are days I read these columns (not just yours) plus the reader’s comments and come away more disheartened and confused on where I stand. What’s causing my wobble? Am I sleep deprived… am I dehydrated? Dunno.
I know which party I belong to but hate the dissonance. At my advanced age I will always go for the younger candidate - but NOT Mamdani in this case. Inexperience in leading NYC? Only if you want to end up placating like Trump likes to do. This not a job for training wheels. Give me a break.
Which leads us to Cuomo. We have experienced governing by a flawed individual. (So, who isn’t in thousands of ways?) Which brings us to Lander… Mr Bland. IDK… the whole thing about the cast of candidates for a city of this size is surreal to me.
Which now brings us to Ms Adams… how about putting a “no drama”woman legislator in charge? I think I found my island!I can go back to bed now.
Ms. Adams did a great job getting the recent YIMBY rezoning approved by the City Council. And it was mostly Progressive Democrats who voted for it. Most moderate Democrats voted against it, along with every Republican.
The problem is not that Mamdani is a Progressive is that he is a whacked out nut job.
Have the same reaction toward democrat socialists as I do for maga's. So, the only place to go, and where I have been headed for awhile, is the center. And with that goes the haunting thought, 'will the center hold.' Which also underscores, bolds and italicizes the fact that Independents are the whole ballgame going forward. As far as His Orangeness, the 5 D war strategist, Einstein Economist, Let's Make a Deal president, the Constitution was long ago flushed down the golden toilet. So we can throw away the handkerchief and smelling salts, it was DOA with his second coming.
The famous line about the center holding is by W. B. Yeats in his poem, *The Second Coming*, written in 1919 in the atmosphere of post WW1 Europe during the influenza pandemic.
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
The Center did not hold.
Thank you so much... I was an English major (a long time ago : ) but did not know the genesis of this phrase. An amazing coincidence that I happened to use the 'second coming' in my comment and had no idea it was the title of his poem.
You and Yeats seem to be on the same wavelength!
One of the greatest poems in the English language!
First verse:
----
One of the greatest poems in the English language!
---------------------------
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
---
Second verse:
----
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
It is possible that he was writing about Ireland, which lapsed into civil war three years after the poem was written.
He’s an extremist. I listened to a podcast interview with him today. This will not be good for NYC.
MARXIST OR MAFIOSO? Those are the choices facing New York City voters in the mayoral race. The least bad choice would include someone who is currently polling at 2% but anyone way down there will stay there. Even if that man is a thoughtful and reasonable candidate. What has happened to our country? Reminds me of our last presidential election. The best and the brightest now avoid politics like the plague.
Mamdani is horrible but he is not a Marxist.
Cut the B.S JDL talking points. All the Jewish lobby wants is complete and total deference to Israel and orthodox Jewish positions. The audacity to have a position that doesn't align with theirs immediately results in calls of antisemitism.
Yeah we Joos control all the banks too.
Not so much any longer. Still, the larger lobbyists organizations aren't advocating for positions other than what I stated. And BTW you kinda proved my point, I must be a "joo" hater cause I object to their overt alignment with a foreign entity.
Thank you for the Anti-Semitic Dual Loyalty meme. Trump has also pushed it. Are you a MAGA?
AIPAC: Accusing American Jews of dual loyalty is anti-semitic.
Also AIPAC: Any serious criticism of Israeli policy, other than strongly-worded letters that can be ignored, is anti-semitic.
Hunh?
(P.S. I'm Jewish, and I have probably spent more time in Israel than you have.)
Sorry if you feel that your religious affiliation is so tied to a foreign nation that any attack on Israel is an attack on Judaism.
When it comes from a group that has explicitly supported genocide of Jews, or from people who make apologies for it, like you, it is indeed an attack on Jews and Judaism. That isn't my feeling, that is a fact.
I will say this, Charlie makes several good points but for me, an "old redneck" Badger I look at everyone lining up against Zohran Mamdani and just think Cuomo, Clinton, and the other "status quo" democrats have had their chance and have failed. Maybe Zohran will too, but I think he should be given a chance to prove himself in New York as a mayor.
He has said some things and has advocated for programs I don't necessarily agree with but my God, look at Trump, look at Nancy Mace, look at Ron Johnson, look at MTG, look at little Johnson, and look at Fine from Florida - if he said the same thing about a Jewish candidate he did about Mamdani, he would be skewered, but no, since it's a muslim evidently it is OK.
I am an old curmudgeon but the present Democratic Party needs to be put out of its misery and it is just hanging on with a Cuomo! Let's move our assess into the future, whatever it brings!!
I agree with this. Look at the old guard of the Democratic party who endorsed Cuomo. What can be worse than the Trump administration. Thugs verses people whose heart is in the right place for providing services to the constituents. We have to do something different. We are losing.Don't support a fighter because they support Medicare for all instead of Medicare for none ? Yes, the Progressives can drive you wild with some of their goals. But do you ever notice they aren't selfish with their goals. It is sometimes a little delusional but at least they are not chasing hard working undocumented workers and beating them . We have to be more openminded about the changes that need to take place. And be openminded to those who join the resistance. Remember, Bernie and AOC were the first out there fighting for us.
Charlie Sykes has suddenly become alarmed about the “DSA threat” …but only when it can serve as a sensational national headline out of NYC. Yet in cities like Portland, Oregon, the DSA threat isn’t theoretical—it’s already in power.
To take Portland as one example:
Wes Pelletier, District 2
Sameer Kanal, District 2
Tiffany Koyama Lane, District 3
Mitch Green, District 4
Kate Sykes, District 5
—are all elected Portland City Councilors who are DSA members or aligned with the organization
.
Yet Sykes didn’t care enough to write about the DSA presence in Portland city government —or the other U.S. cities where DSA-linked officials are already governing—until he could leverage it in a sensational NYC story.
Here are just a few other places where DSA-backed candidates are already serving in city government :
Los Angeles: Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto‑Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado
Minneapolis: Aisha Chughtai (Council Vice President)
Chicago: Carlos Ramirez‑Rosa, Daniel La Spata, Rossana Rodriguez‑Sanchez, Byron Sigcho‑Lopez, Jeanette Taylor, Andre Vasquez, Angela Clay
Oakland: Carroll Fife
St. Louis: Megan Green
Philadelphia: Kendra Brooks, Nicolas O’Rourke
Tacoma: Jamika Scott
Washington, D.C.: Janeese Lewis George, Zachary Parker
Bottom line: If you're going to raise alarms about socialist inroads in local government, do so with accuracy—not just when it serves a catchy NYC angle. DSA is already a significant force in mainstream politics nationwide—not "about to" be, but already is.
And how many of those are Strong Mayors? The NYC Mayor has a huge amount of power. The City Council is relatively weak, mostly approving the budget and occasionally raising the property tax rate at the behest of the mayor. Unusually it recently enacted major YIMBY changes to the zoning ordinance, the biggest change since the early 1960s. The Mayor controls the schools, public safety, public health, social services, business and building regulation, public housing, public hospitals, jails, and traffic regulations, all with little oversight. The last Mayor with fiscal policies as irresponsible as Mamdani was John Lindsay and he literally led the city -- and nearly the state --into bankruptcy. At least Lindsay wasn't an anti-Semite, though.
The most memorable picture of the Dem Socialists is the one taken in NYC on October 8th where they were celebrating the October 7th attack and one held up a pic of a Swastika on her phone. I remember you posting that Charlie when you were with the Bulwark on October 9th. It was on the front cover of the New York Post.
Hey Charlie, I assume you live along one of the Great Lakes, but I wondered which one? ( I know I could remember which area you live in and probably figure it out, but I was just curious, looking at the scenery with the dogs you post. Guessing Lake Michigan, I don't the think you are North right?
I live very close to Lake Erie, but our lake is pitiful next to yours...lol
Took a break from all the POS bad news and was browsing YouTube. And found . . .
We need a theme song for all of us. I nominate this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP808MiJUcM to play at every single protest and remind us we can, need, to change the world.
To put it in perspective as one person said, he was already dying when he sang this.