https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...734408&lctg=26773771

Zohran Mamdani's Going to Have a Hard Time Escaping the Trap Eric Adams Set on His Way Out

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is having a hard time with a “legal booby trap” former Mayor Eric Adams left behind just before leaving office.

On his way out, Adams created a new Charter Revision Commission and appointed its members. He then instructed the entity to explore moving New York City to nonpartisan elections, according to Politico.

Hours before Adams left office on Dec. 31, the lame-duck mayor established a legally protected commission packed predominantly with loyalists and tasked with exploring a ballot question about open primaries, a proposed change in the city’s electoral machinery that, if implemented, would make it more difficult for Mamdani, a democratic socialist, to win a second term.

In the weeks since, the question of how to undo — or at the very least blunt — the impact of Adams’ zombie commission has attracted the attention of the city’s likely next corporation counsel, spawned a bill in Albany that would allow Mamdani to disband the outfit and spurred government ethics experts to explore how Adams’ creation might be reconciled to the history books as just another quirk of his tragic turn as city executive.

“This sets up a mayoral institution that is potentially in conflict with the sitting mayor, and that strikes me as very unwise and petty,” said Richard Briffault, a government expert at Columbia Law School and former chair of the city Conflicts of Interest Board. “This is purely hostile.”

Charter commissions are temporary bodies that review the city’s governing document and propose changes directly to voters through ballot initiatives. Adams specifically directed the commission to look at whether the city should switch to an open, nonpartisan primary system.

The commission will hold hearings, take public input, and place charter amendments on the ballot for New York City voters to approve or reject. Other commissions of this type have made significant changes to the city’s charter over the years. It created the modern City Council, changed term limits, and altered land-use processes.

What makes this even worse for Mamdani is that he cannot disband the commission until it gets the proposals on the ballot or reaches the end of its two-year term. During this period, the City Council cannot place its own charter question on the ballot, meaning the new mayor can’t run their own competing ballot measure.

However, Mamdani is not completely out of options. He can also block funding to the commission or attempt legal challenges against it.

Mamdani’s team slammed the move as an effort to subvert the will of the voters who just elected him. Dora Pekec, a Mamdani spokesperson, called the commission “yet another ploy from the Adams administration to circumvent the voice of New Yorkers who elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor” and that his team is reviewing “all available options.”

The reason Mamdani and his team are freaking out over this is because if the ballot measure succeeds, it would create a system in which all candidates run together, with the top two winners advancing to the general election. These systems tend to favor candidates who appeal to the broadest swath of voters, which means it is more likely that a moderate would win out over an extreme ideologue who thrive in closed party primaries.

In a city like New York, it could dampen the ability of a democratic socialist like Mamdani to attain power.

If New York City voters approve the ballot measure, it would certainly shake up the city’s political scene. We can expect to see an aggressive fight over this issue over the next two years.

That really confirms what I suspected, Adams, an actual New Yorker, loves his home. Good for him.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...734408&lctg=26773771

Antisemitic Incidents Skyrocket on Mamdani's Watch

In case you were wondering what "globalize the intifada" looks like, New York — under the leadership of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — is showing us.

Shortly after Mamdani's inauguration, antisemitic protesters descended on the Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood, chanting that they stood with Hamas. It was so bad that Democrats (including Mamdani) were forced to condemn Hamas and chide their voters. Last week, a man rammed his car into Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn while hundreds of Jews were inside praying.

Those are just two of the many antisemitic incidents in the city, which has seen such cases skyrocket recently.

"Hateful antisemitic incidents skyrocketed 182% across the Big Apple in January compared to a year ago, even as other crimes such as murders and shootings reached record lows, according to NYPD data.

There were 31 hate crimes against Jewish people reported in the first month of 2026, which is 20 more than the same time last year, the startling stats show.

The concerning figures are in contrast to the record-low number of shootings and murders that took place in the city in January as New Yorkers faced below-freezing temps for much of the month.

“Unfortunately, it’s never too cold to be antisemitic,” said Michael Nussbaum, a Queens board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.


“The hate is going to be difficult to eliminate — it’s what’s in people’s hearts and minds,” he said."

cont...

Worth repeating:

1/3 of the Jewish vote in the recent NYC mayoral election went to Zohran.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
1/3 of the Jewish vote in the recent NYC mayoral election went to Zohran.

That sort of thing gets mentioned frequently.
Does anyone who points it out have any idea why?

And “Because they’re stupid” isn’t a reason. It may be why they make bad decisions, but it’s not what prompts them to make those decisions.

“Why did you buy that gun you hate and never shoot?”
“I’m stupid and impulsive,” is not the reason.
“Because Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was a great gun in one of his movies,” is a reason.

What prompts New York Jews to vote for a Muslim, antisemitic Communist? Does one (being Communist) override the other two?
(Yes, Muslim Communist is sometimes thought to be an oxymoron, but he is not the first such creature; there were a bunch of them in Iran at one time.)

In NYC as we speak, all the talk of garbage everywhere is absolutely true. Garbage is stacked shoulder height and lines many many sidewalks. It looks like a 3rd world country here.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
Worth repeating:

1/3 of the Jewish vote in the recent NYC mayoral election went to Zohran.

For some reason A LOT of Jewish people vote Democrat no matter what. The funny thing is most Democrat politicians don't back Israel at all. Go figure.

Asking why American Jews vote Democrat when Democrats don’t support Israel is somewhat a version of the logical fallacy of begging the question. It assumes without evidence that those American Jews who vote for Democrats also support Israel, or even should.

There are at least two reasons why American Jews might not care about Israel, and may even be opposed to its existence.
Lacking any explanations of the sort I asked for above, mine is that the most likely reason today is that someone who was raised in New York and imbued with its leftist views and values since birth isn’t going to tell his friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even coreligionists that he considers a far-off foreign country to be more important to him than they are. And why should he? What benefit does he get from the existence of that country?

I cannot know how important the religion’s traditional beliefs and culture are to any individual Jew, but according to the surveys I’ve seen, many Jews are “nonobservant,” i.e., the fact that they are of Jewish heritage has little effect on their beliefs and practices.

We have many members here who proudly consider themselves to be Christians, but how many of them believe that marriage is inviolate and divorce is prohibited? How many refuse to practice artificial birth control and consider drinking alcoholic beverages to be a sin? What percentage consider Saturday to be when they should attend church and worship, not Sunday, or believe that it is improper to celebrate Christmas? Not many, I suspect, but that is not true of all Christians, many of whom accept some or all of those things.

But that’s not all. When the idea of establishing a Jewish state in the Middle East first gained significant popular support in the 19th and early 20th centuries, who were some of the men who were most opposed to the movement? Senior Jewish leaders.

And the reason: Because the Jewish homeland should not be reestablished until after the arrival of the Messiah—and that wasn’t Jesus. The Messiah was supposed to be a powerful leader who would overthrow the oppressors (Romans in Jesus’ day) and establish a new kingdom on Earth, not someone who was executed like a common criminal along with a pair of thieves for the crime of annoying those in charge.

I could go on much further, but I believe those are a couple of possible reasons why not every Jew then or now believes that Israel should be supported by voting anything other than Democrat.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
In NYC as we speak, all the talk of garbage everywhere is absolutely true. Garbage is stacked shoulder height and lines many many sidewalks. It looks like a 3rd world country here.

The rats are well fed. They are chewing their way into the trash bags. The good news is, the area around Gracie Mansion (the mayor's residence) is clean, well shoveled, and clear of trash.

NOT even remotely defending NYC here, but any chance that it's simply 'Garbage Day' in those neighborhoods?

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
NOT defending NYC whatsoever, but any chance that it's simply 'Garbage Day' in those neighborhoods?

Nope.

^^ How do (would?) you know that? Do you realize that the garbage trucks are the same trucks that plow the snow in NYC? Those pics are NOT of garbage that's been sitting/rotting there for days. Another factor is that the DSNY crews that remove the snow (they can't just plow it, they load much of it in barges and transport it elsewhere) are the same ones that pick up the trash, so it's not uncommon for them to get 'way' behind after a big storm. This is nothing new in NYC.

Sigfreund, how it comes off, is this.

A “non-observant Jew,” is just a racist a-hole, who never considers himself part of the nation, in which he resides.

This is a common sentiment, throughout much of history.

The non-resident aspect can be seen in Jewish architecture, in the U.S., post Israel.

Pre-Israel synagogues were built as “permanent” buildings - modern ones look disposable - and modern Jewish neighborhoods do not look like they are meant to be lived in, long-term.

I think every Jewish person I know in FL goes to Israel, on a regular basis - that’s definitely a shift, from when I was a kid (maybe I grew up around less affluent Jews??? Not sure. I know Jews of fairly modest means in FL who still go to Israel, regularly.)

Israel is referred to as “home,” and there is a steady drum beat of “you should live in Israel.”

This may be a Miami Beach thing? I know one of my friends was Orthodox Jewish, and he was upset about people blocking the streets in Saturdays, etc - essentially trying to force out the Gentiles in Surfside*. (Jews started moving in, maybe in the early 2000s? Not sure.)

*that was his position - I guess he would know. I didn’t live in Surfside. I don’t know if they block the streets around the synagogue on Saturdays or not.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
What prompts New York Jews to vote for a Muslim, antisemitic Communist? Does one (being Communist) override the other two?
(Yes, Muslim Communist is sometimes thought to be an oxymoron, but he is not the first such creature; there were a bunch of them in Iran at one time.)

It's a good question.
And your subsequent post gives a good answer.

quote:

I cannot know how important the religion’s traditional beliefs and culture are to any individual Jew, but according to the surveys I’ve seen, many Jews are “nonobservant,” i.e., the fact that they are of Jewish heritage has little effect on their beliefs and practices.

I agree. Many of these Jewish people were born and raised as Democrats, much moreso than as practicing their Jewish faith. Jewish heritage is less important to these. They don't really care about Israel and often don't even associate the country of Israel with their Jewish heritage. As Democrats, they are inundated with "genocide in Gaza" propaganda. Many are probably embarrassed to be Jewish.

One of strongest human motivators is to exercise control over other people. We see that manifested in countless ways, and especially in recent times when the controllers are permitted, and even encouraged to get away with it.

“Your choices about your body modifications demonstrate that you would probably not be a good fit in my business.” “Too bad, you must hire me anyway.” “Oh, okay; I don’t want to be a bigot.”

“Personal pronouns and other words are what I choose to use in my speech to others, not you.” “Too bad, if you refer to me or even others like me, you must use the words that I demand.” “Oh, okay; I don’t want to be a bigot.”

“Allowing biological males to compete against females is wrong.” “Too bad, we’re going to do it anyway.” “Oh, okay; I don’t want to be a bigot.”

“I believe that allowing people like you to flood into my community is a threat in many ways as demonstrated by clear examples.” “Too bad, you have no right to keep us out.” “Oh, okay; I don’t want to be a bigot.”

“Blocking a street to restrict free travel is wrong.” “Too bad, we’re going to do it anyway.” “Oh, okay; I don’t want to be a bigot.”

Control is also exercised by things like rioting, destroying property, and even killing people the rioters don’t like. And the obvious reason such activities become more common is because the rioters are allowed to do it with no penalty, and that’s reason enough to do it. It’s not necessary for them to know anything more than that. “I’m in control and I’m going to do it.”

In ways, I think the “mind virus” is a good way to understand it.

A desire to control others, is a symptom of various mental illnesses. There’s no way a healthy person can desire that.

And, it explains how “they” can vote for it - they are incapable of seeing how it will be used against them/that they wouldn’t have special status.

.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is playing a dangerous game of political theater. After a hospital visit to Jabez Chakraborty, the man who marched at officers with a kitchen knife, Mamdani is now standing by the bedside of a man on a ventilator, claiming he deserves "treatment, not prosecution." It’s a calculated move to push his new Department of Community Safety, using a life-or-death confrontation as a campaign prop. ​The body cam footage tells a story the Mayor wants to ignore. Officers didn't rush in guns blazing; they retreated. They put a glass door between them and the blade. They pleaded with Jabez to drop the weapon. It was only when he was charging at them with the knife, that they fired. To call for "no charges" isn't about mental health; it's about shifting the narrative to make the police the villains in a situation where they were the ones being hunted. Mamdani is trading officer safety for political points, and the city is watching the mask slip.

https://x.com/DesireeAmerica4/...istration-day-382%2F

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

...What prompts New York Jews to vote for a Muslim, antisemitic Communist? Does one (being Communist) override the other two?...

Rush Limbaugh explained this briefly: "Liberalism trumps everything."

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
In NYC as we speak, all the talk of garbage everywhere is absolutely true. Garbage is stacked shoulder height and lines many many sidewalks. It looks like a 3rd world country here.

well you have a 3rd world person as a 3rd world mayor appealing to his 3rd world voter base

what could possibly go wrong

NY City is what it is