Dem Post Mortem

[bilby]

Ohio has government liquor stores.

As well as sixteen other states.

Ohio has sixteen other states?!?? Has the Civil War started and nobody told me?

Oh, wait.

As you were.

 

[bilby]

"free" buses,

There are many places around the world that have free buses. And NYC already had it.

Public transportation is infrastructure. Infrastructure should be free at point of use, and funded through general taxation, because the users are not the primary beneficiaries.

If I catch the bus to work, my employer is the beneficiary. If I catch the bus to the store, the store is the beneficiary.

When you drive on city roads, you get the road for "free". Why should the same not apply to riding a city bus?

 

[pood]

What is actually radical about Mamdani's agenda?

Rent freezes, $30 minimum wage^*, "free" buses, government-owned grocery stores, globalizing the Intifada.

^* And yet he still demands that halal food for himself and his fellow Muslims be super cheap.I

I watched that video and to me it appeared as if he simply wanted to make it cheaper for those who sell street food make it easier and cheaper to get permits. Sure, he mentioned Halal food, but if this was accomplished it would apply to any type of food sold this way. It makes sense that a vendor selling food shouldn't have to pay 22K for the right to sell their goods.

Plus, a mayor doesn't get everything they want. They have to get the approval of the city council to pass bills and based on what I've read, some of the council members seem rather conservative. If Mamdani becomes mayor, he, like any other politician in a leadership position will have to compromise. It's doubtful he will get many of the things he supports passed. If I lived in NYC, I'd vote for him simply because he's better than the alternatives, despite the fact that he's very idealistic and may not have the experience needed to do such a complicated job. I certainly couldn't vote for Adams, Cuomo or the Republican candidate, but it's up the residents of NYC to decide if they think he's qualified to be mayor of their city. It's not up to you or me.

Ha, I like that video and I like Mamdani! I also eat at NYC halal food carts, and yes the price is going up. But Derec thinks this is bad, to lower prices. He thinks Mamdani only “demands” that halal food be cheap for hin and his “fellow Muslims.” But I’m not Muslim. and I eat at halal food carts. Tons of non-Muslims do! In fact there is one a short block from me right now — I think I’ll get some halal food! And you know what? Not a single one of these Muslims at the carts throughout the city have ever spiked my food with poison, or turned their carts into suicide bombs! That must make Derec’s head spin!

Incidentally, Trump said Mamdani “LOOKS TERRIBLE!” I wonder what he meant by that?

Anyhow, Mamdani has my vote.

 

[Politesse]

Ohio has government liquor stores.

As well as sixteen other states.

Ohio has sixteen other states?!?? Has the Civil War started and nobody told me?

Oh, wait.

As you were.

I mean, Ohio probably is responsible for the liberation of at least sixteen other states. They are, as the Confederates learned to their great detriment, extremely pugnacious when riled.

 

[southernhybrid]

What is actually radical about Mamdani's agenda?

Rent freezes, $30 minimum wage^*, "free" buses, government-owned grocery stores, globalizing the Intifada.

^* And yet he still demands that halal food for himself and his fellow Muslims be super cheap.I

I watched that video and to me it appeared as if he simply wanted to make it cheaper for those who sell street food make it easier and cheaper to get permits. Sure, he mentioned Halal food, but if this was accomplished it would apply to any type of food sold this way. It makes sense that a vendor selling food shouldn't have to pay 22K for the right to sell their goods.

Plus, a mayor doesn't get everything they want. They have to get the approval of the city council to pass bills and based on what I've read, some of the council members seem rather conservative. If Mamdani becomes mayor, he, like any other politician in a leadership position will have to compromise. It's doubtful he will get many of the things he supports passed. If I lived in NYC, I'd vote for him simply because he's better than the alternatives, despite the fact that he's very idealistic and may not have the experience needed to do such a complicated job. I certainly couldn't vote for Adams, Cuomo or the Republican candidate, but it's up the residents of NYC to decide if they think he's qualified to be mayor of their city. It's not up to you or me.

Ha, I like that video and I like Mamdani! I also eat at NYC halal food carts, and yes the price is going up. But Derec thinks this is bad, to lower prices. He thinks Mamdani only “demands” that halal food be cheap for hin and his “fellow Muslims.” But I’m not Muslim. and I eat at halal food carts. Tons of non-Muslims do! In fact there is one a short block from me right now — I think I’ll get some halal food! And you know what? Not a single one of these Muslims at the carts throughout the city have ever spiked my food with poison, or turned their carts into suicide bombs! That must make Derec’s head spin!

Incidentally, Trump said Mamdani “LOOKS TERRIBLE!” I wonder what he meant by that?

Anyhow, Mamdani has my vote.

Trump often projects his own ugly looks on better looking men. I suspect that is why he made his typical insulting comment about a younger better looking man.

 

[pood]

Trump often projects his own ugly looks on better looking men. I suspect that is why he made his typical insulting comment about a younger better looking man.

I suspect it’s because he “looks A-RAB!” as I’m sure Trump says in private.

 

[Derec]

Regardless of how one feels about the policies that Mamdami supports, at least he seems like a decent, honest persons with good intentions,

I do not think anybody who supports the call to "globalize the Intifada" can be described that way. Btw, while at Bowdoin College, he cofounded their SJP chapter. SJP is a radical anti-Israel student group.

while his Republican critics are disgusting, racist assholes, and I'm sharing some of the evidence of that.

Some certainly are, but that does not mean that all criticism of Mamdani should be dismissed.

Representative Andy Ogles, a hard-right Tennessee Republican, on Thursday used Islamophobic language on social media to refer to Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, and said he should be deported.

Calling for him to be deported is going too far, but often what is called "Islamophobic language" by the Left is any criticism of actually existing Islam.

Representative Nancy Mace, Republican of South Carolina, implied that Mr. Mamdani was somehow tied to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which occurred when he was 9.

What exactly did she say?

That came after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, reacted on Wednesday to Mr. Mamdani’s apparent victory with an edited image of the Statue of Liberty clothed in a burqa.

LMAO, that shit is funny! But wasn't MTG simping for the Ayatollah just a week ago? Pick a lane, Marjorie!

Mr. Mamdani, a three-term New York State assemblyman who is all but certain to win the Democratic primary for mayor,

In an ultrasafe district. So much so that Republicans usually do not even field a candidate.

was born in Uganda and has lived in New York City since 1998, when he was 7 years old. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018 and, if elected, would become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Not just Muslim, but a Twelver Shia Muslim. Same as the regime in Iran. No wonder he hates Israel so much.

 

[Derec]

I watched that video and to me it appeared as if he simply wanted to make it cheaper for those who sell street food make it easier and cheaper to get permits. Sure, he mentioned Halal food, but if this was accomplished it would apply to any type of food sold this way.

He did more than just mention "halal" food. He made it the entire focus of the video, even coining the term "halalflation". He could have easily made the video about food trucks in general, but no, he is only concerned about his fellow Muslims.

It makes sense that a vendor selling food shouldn't have to pay 22K for the right to sell their goods.

I would think the cost of the permit is one of the lowest components of the cost structure of a food card business. $10 is still pretty cheap for a meal, particularly in NYC.
Note that I mentioned the "halalflation" video as a footnote to his call for a $30/h minimum wage (note the asterisks). Forget about $10 "chicken over rice" if you have to pay all employees at least $30/h, much less $8 he wants.

Plus, a mayor doesn't get everything they want. They have to get the approval of the city council to pass bills and based on what I've read, some of the council members seem rather conservative. If Mamdani becomes mayor, he, like any other politician in a leadership position will have to compromise. It's doubtful he will get many of the things he supports passed.

The NYC city council skews very progressive, even if there are some more moderate or even conservative members. Mayors like Bloomchen and Adams had to reign them in. I doubt they will give much pushback to Mr. Cardamom's Schnappsideen.

If I lived in NYC, I'd vote for him simply because he's better than the alternatives, despite the fact that he's very idealistic and may not have the experience needed to do such a complicated job. I certainly couldn't vote for Adams, Cuomo or the Republican candidate,

Why do you feel that way? Especially Cuomo, who was a fairly progressive as governor, even if he fails the purity tests of the Democratic Socialists like Mamdani.

but it's up the residents of NYC to decide if they think he's qualified to be mayor of their city. It's not up to you or me.

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
- H. L. Mencken

 

[pood]

Poor Derec doesn’t know that there are 750,000 Muslims in New York City, and are among the hardest working, most law-abiding citizens we have. Poor Derec doesn’t know that tons of non-Muslims, including me, eat from Halal food carts, which are all over the city and fill a need.

Poor Derec doesn’t know much.

 

[laughing dog]

The electorate is made up of people. I'm one of them. I'm standing where I am not because I find it a "workable compromise" but because according to decades of asking what the nature of what is right actually is, this is the answer I have found.

In other words, letting perfect be the enemy of good. You can't have everything so you reject a partial solution.

Ironic coming from the master of the excluded middle fallacy.

 

[pood]

Earlier today I had lamb shawarma from a halal food cart. It consists of a giant ton of lamb shawarma, a giant ton of rice, a giant ton of mixed vegetables, and a giant ton of salad with tomatoes and radishes and other goodies, and some nice, spicy hot sauce. Served up by a wiry old silver-haired Muslim gentleman who reminds me of a peasant Van Gogh painted in 1888. He is always very affable and so far has blown up no buildings. Price: seven dollars.

 

[ZiprHead]

Ohio has government liquor stores.

As well as sixteen other states.

TY

 

[pood]

I made a point of eating halal to spite Derec.

 

[Derec]

NYC has had rent control since 1942.

Control yes, and as bad of an idea that is, it is different than freezing the rents, i.e. not allowing them to go up at all. Landlords have costs, and those costs generally rise year to year due to inflation. And with Mamdani's policies, cost of labor will rise even more than general inflation.

Poverty wage in NYC is $23/hr. I suspect the $30 is a negotiating starting point.

How do you define "poverty wage"? The current minimum wage in NYC is $16.50. That means that Zohran wants to almost double the minimum wage.

There are many places around the world that have free buses. And NYC already had it.

I did not say that all his ideas were unique. But they all cost money. The more expensive ideas he has, the more expensive will it be to implement them all.

Ohio has government liquor stores.

So? Just because Ohio (and some other states) implemented a dumb idea, does not mean NYC should implement a different dumb idea.
Government monopolies on liquor stores are there to limit access to alcohol, since some people see it as sinful. That is a very different, since Zohran's motivation here is not to limit access, but to expand it. But by making private grocery stores and bodegas less competitive, this may reduce access by driving many stores out of business.

Why is it necessary to make a profit to feed people?

What's wrong with profits? And do you also propose government-owned restaurants with the same justification? And, why stop at feeding people? Why is it necessary to make a profit to clothe people? So, there should be government owned clothes factories and stores. And so on.

globalizing the Intifada.

I'll need a reference for that.

Gillibrand says Mamdani should denounce calls for ‘intifada’

 

[laughing dog]

What is actually radical about Mamdani's agenda?

Rent freezes, $30 minimum wage^*, "free" buses, government-owned grocery stores, globalizing the Intifada.

^* And yet he still demands that halal food for himself and his fellow Muslims be super cheap.

Anyone who is not a raging bigot can eat halal food.

And, I believe Mamdani’s gov’t grocery stores are not envisioned as monopolies.

 

[ZiprHead]

Gillibrand says Mamdani should denounce calls for ‘intifada’

Mamdani faced criticism as the primary approached over an interview he gave last week in which he said “what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” He made a comparison between those calls for intifada and the Warsaw ghetto uprising that took place during the Holocaust in which Jews fought back against the Nazis and some escaped.

He cited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., noting the museum used the word “intifada” when translating the Warsaw Uprising into Arabic, as intifada means “struggle.” This led to the museum issuing a rare statement denouncing the comparison, calling it “offensive to survivors.”

Mamdani has responded to the criticism by maintaining he would be a major (sic, I assume it's supposed to say "mayor") for all New Yorkers and is committed to protecting his Jewish constituents against rising antisemitism.

Gillibrand said she had spoken to him about this issue and that he agreed to work with her to protect all residents of the city.

“These are things that he has assured me in my one conversation that he will protect everyone, but I understand why people are concerned, because of past statements,” she said. “This is just an issue that I will work with him on, for sure.”

He sounds like a terrible person who will soon show up to Gracie Mansion wearing a suicide vest.

Your anti Muslim bigotry is shining through brightly and clearly.

 

[Derec]

And to the doubters: look at how much MAGA is fucking freaking out about this.

Not just MAGA. Independents and even many Dems are freaking out about this. But I guess they are all "MAGA" to you ...

A nerve was struck, and a fear response was evoked just for him beating Cuomo in the primary.

A specter is haunting New York ...

MAGA was downright comfortable with a Cuomo win and now they're asking Daddy Trump to deport the guy rather than accept the consequences to their agenda of the idea that we can seek "progress" towards something that is not Gilead.

Is your contention that Cuomo would lead NYC toward "something that is Gilead"?
Besides, all these references to Handmaid's Take remind me of this meme:

 

[Derec]

Public transportation is infrastructure. Infrastructure should be free at point of use, and funded through general taxation, because the users are not the primary beneficiaries.

I agree that public transportation is infrastructure. And while I agree that government should invest in public transportation, I do not think that means that there should not be reasonable fares to use it.

When you drive on city roads, you get the road for "free". Why should the same not apply to riding a city bus?

I don't know about Down Under, but here roads are not paid through general taxation, but through gasoline taxes and registration fees.
Besides, when you use a bus, you not only use city roads but also the equipment as well as the labor of the driver and everybody else involved in transit such as dispatchers and bus mechanics.
Why should not the riders contribute a few bucks then?

 

[Derec]

Ha, I like that video and I like Mamdani!

What a surprise!

I also eat at NYC halal food carts,

Spoken like a true islamoleftist.
Do you not care that halal slaughter is unnecessarily cruel?
Or that you are indirectly paying some Islamic cleric to pray over the meat before it is "certified halal"?

and yes the price is going up.

But is it going up more than other food trucks and other food establishments? If not, why single out halal?

But Derec thinks this is bad, to lower prices.

Did I say that? No, I did not.
I merely commented that
- there is no need to single out halal food trucks
- Momdani's policies will not lead to lower prices - quite the opposite.

 

[Derec]

And, I believe Mamdani’s gov’t grocery stores are not envisioned as monopolies.

They are not. But if you have stores that do not pay rent, do not pay property tax and do not have to turn a profit, you undercut the already low margin grocery business. Unintended consequence will be grocery stores and corner bodegas going out of business.