New York on the upswing

 

Mamdani working it

 

I have to wonder if Trump is demanding his name on buildings in exchange for help for NYC.

Ouch

I don't know the details ('cause I'm not reading it), but at the very least, this is a bad look.

Why stop at grift and graft?

 Go straight to extortion. No one's going to stop him.

Amid a trade war and a deepening rift between the United States and its northern neighbor, Mr. Trump said that he would “not allow” the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, scheduled to open early this year for traffic between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, “until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.”

[...]

It was not immediately clear how Mr. Trump would block the opening of the bridge. Its construction was paid for by Canada, and a public-private arrangement , under which Canada and Michigan would jointly operate the crossing, gives Michigan part ownership.

  NYT

No doubt there's some sort of national security emergency he can claim.

Trump also suggested in his social media post on Monday that the United States might seek to acquire “at least one half” of the new bridge and to get a cut of the revenue from bridge tolls.

In his first term, Mr. Trump had promoted the project in a joint statement with Canadian officials as a symbol of the countries’ deep economic partnership and as “a vital economic link between our two countries.”

[...]

The nearby Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings on the continent, has been privately owned for decades by a Detroit trucking industry billionaire and his family, the Morouns. The family had previously called on Mr. Trump to halt the construction of the Gordie Howe bridge — which would, once opened, compete for the more than $300 million in daily cross-border trade over the Ambassador Bridge.

Oh. I see.

UPDATE 02/11/2026:

Government CAN actually work for the people

 

And in New York...

 

Mamdani on the march in New York

 

Good luck, Zohran and New York

 New day, new year, new mayor, New York.

The location:

Love it.

I only hope Mamdani is who we think he is.

Well, and I also hope his personal security team is crackerjack.

UPDATE 05:30 pm:

UPDATE 01/02/2026:

Hit the ground running.

Iced out

 New Yorkers prevented ICE from rolling out today, blocking their exit from a staging garage.

UPDATE 08:18 pm:

Starve the kids and freeze out the old and poor

 

A little justice for a change

 

The People have spoken

 So much for DHS voter intimidation.

Source: Aidan

The largest turnout for a mayor's race for over half a century in New York.

From Fox, the two Governor's races:

Flipped from GOP.

Virginia also elected Ghazala Hashmi lieutenant governor.  She's the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the US.

And a big one: Prop 50 in California. Voters overwhelming chose to fight Texas gerrymandering with California gerrymandering.

Pennsylvanians voted overwhelmingly to keep three Democratic Supreme Court judges who sought reelection, retaining a Democratic majority (5-2) on the bench.

UPDATE 05:00 pm:

In my 35 years as an election lawyer, I’ve seen good election nights and bad ones. Last night was a very good one — for both Democrats and democracy. Democrats won everything, everywhere, all at once.

They captured two governorships — in New Jersey and Virginia — in commanding fashion. They won every statewide race in Virginia and gained 13 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates.

In Pennsylvania, three Democrats facing retention elections on the state Supreme Court easily prevailed, solidifying a pro-voting majority on the court for the foreseeable future. In New York City, not only did the Democratic nominee win, but the Republican candidate came in a distant third with less than 10% of the vote.

In Georgia, two Democrats flipped seats on the statewide Public Service Commission — marking the first statewide Democratic victory in a non-federal race in nearly two decades. In Mississippi, Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the state legislature.

On the democracy front, the wins were even bigger. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting ballot measure passed by nearly 30 points. Meanwhile, Republicans’ effort to use the referendum process to impose voter ID in Maine failed by a similar margin.

  Democracy Docket

Also from Democracy Docket

Republicans sued to block California’s Prop 50, which voters passed Tuesday. The lawsuit argues the state violated the 14th and 15th Amendments by drawing congressional districts that “favor Hispanic voters.”

Texas' redistricting to favor whites is not a problem for them.  In case you were wondering.

UPDATE 11/06/2025:

It's a great start.  Now follow through.

Mamdani for Mayor

 

Zohran Mamdani did not make any major or minor mistakes. He was calm, smiled and made his points over attacks from rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.

Mamdani dominated most of the two-hour debate against his more experienced opponents. His performance was miles better than what he turned in earlier this year during the primary campaign, where he often appeared less confident or flustered.

[...]

Long-shot Republican Sliwa brought bravado to the forum, yet he at times came across as too mayoral and a bit staid — even if social media fell in love with his thick New York accent.

  Politico

I remember Sliwa from years ago when he founded a group that rode New York subways as voluntary passenger protectors, The Guardian Angels.

You bet your bippy I'm old.  Power to the people, right on!

Sliwa and Cuomo are also old.  That may be a problem.

Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Voters remain deeply concerned about the cost of living in expensive New York, and Mamdani has harnessed this issue of the political age. He stayed on message throughout the debate — even at the end by declaring he’s more concerned about affordability than in weighing in on the Christopher Columbus statue.

Hammering those affordability points with an affable, calm demeanor against his opponents came through in the first general election debate. It served Mamdani well.

He is not authorized

 But Congress has simply rolled over.

He will be sued.  He will be counting on "his" judges at SCOTUS to back him up.

Judge blocks Trump impoundment

 

Jeffries needs to listen to Chris Van Hollen

 

Bingo.

Vote for Mamdani

 

You can stop whining about something Trump is doing being illegal.  Just assume what he's doing is illegal.  Now. What can we do about it?

 

DHS arrests NY lawmakers

 

New York retaliates

America has changed forever. 

The new Civil War has begun.  Without guns - so far.  

Will New York House Republicans abscond to Texas to hold up the vote?  Actually, I don't even know if they have similar rules as Texas, so maybe they don't have to.

Also, is Newsom still exploring the same in California?

Related:

[A] technical briefing order in a long pending case out of Louisiana, posted on the court’s website after 5 p.m. on a Friday in August, was ominous. The order was likely intended to obscure that SCOTUS is ready to consider striking down the last remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act, known as Section 2. Such a monumental ruling, likely not coming until June 2026, would change the nature of congressional, state, and local elections all across the country, and likely stir major civil rights protests as the midterm election season heats up.

Louisiana v. Callais, the case that was the subject of last Friday’s order, is a voting case over the drawing of the state’s six congressional districts.

  Slate

This is the case of whether or not Louisiana's voting maps are drawn on racial or political basis, the former being illegal, and, in Southern states, the difference between the two being essentially nonexistent.

Color me doubtful that SCOTUS will uphold anything that's fair to people of color.

UPDATE 08/12/2025: