RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.frontpagemag.com/third-parties-dont-work/

Most people hate the political duopoly of the Democrats and Republicans (some people insist on calling it a Uniparty and while there’s a whole lot of corrupt and faithless pols, if you really can’t see the difference between the people calling for the abolition of ICE and those funding it, well…) but it’s hard to look at true multi-party systems elsewhere (or in American history) and think they’re better.

Most multi-party systems depend on parliamentary coalitions which we fortunately don’t have. To see why they’re so terrible, take a look at the trouble that Geert Wilders had in the Netherlands or Netanyahu in Israel. Parliamentary coalitions maintain a kind of political center that is forever sliding leftward. In other words, it’s everything you hate about our political system, but made much worse.

There’s the Latin American model, which we are moving toward, but that’s even worse for anyone who doesn’t like civil wars every other decade. (Jefferson did argue in favor of them.)

How would an actual effective third party work in America today? The two parties used redistricting to minimize the number of swing districts. Much of the public hates both parties, but running a candidate in any district would require competing against that district’s existing formulation. That means trying to beat either party in a district created just for its candidates. And running third party candidates in swing districts would most likely chip away at whichever two party candidate is likely to pick up independent voters. And that would likely end up favoring Democrats over Republicans.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/new-york-city-mayoral-race-candidates-voters

Just after midnight on June 25, with the temperature finally down from a 100-degree high to the upper 80s, a hoarse and exhausted-looking Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani addressed a cheering crowd in Queens. Clad in a crisp white shirt under his dark suit and tie, the 33-year-old exulted: “My friends, we have done it. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.” Indeed, Mamdani had done it—an upstart Democratic Socialists of America member with four years’ experience in office had pulled off a stunning victory in the city’s mayoral primary. From just 7 percent support in January polls, he surged to defeat former governor Andrew M. Cuomo by eight points. Cuomo, backed by tens of millions of dollars from business and real-estate interests and long leading in polls, had expected an easy path to the nomination. The result was the biggest political upset in New York in nearly 25 years—since Michael Bloomberg, running as a Republican after 9/11, edged out Democratic favorite Mark Green as voters chose a businessman over a party stalwart.

It’s understandable that New Yorkers, and observers nationwide, see Mamdani’s victory as a sharp break in city politics. Going back more than three decades, voters have elected pragmatic leaders focused on public safety and economic growth. The exception, Bill de Blasio, benefited from the safety and prosperity created by his immediate predecessors. But the reality is less dramatic: Mamdani won not because voters embraced his self-described socialist agenda of government-run grocery stores and free buses, but because the alternatives were so weak. New Yorkers didn’t reject a centrist—they simply weren’t offered a credible one.

To understand the failure of Mamdani’s rival candidates to inspire, it’s worth looking back at the primary campaign, which began in January and played out across countless forums.

On a Tuesday evening in late May, veteran New York politico Scott Stringer sat in his Manhattan living room, peering into his laptop camera. He spoke confidently and capably about an issue affecting New Yorkers rich and poor: illegal noise. Whether from unpermitted construction or raucous park parties, Stringer argued, noise isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a health hazard—and he proposed enforcement solutions.

One problem: this Zoom forum, hosted by the NYC United Against Noise citizens group, drew fewer than a dozen attendees. The dismal turnout underscored the challenge that New York’s career state and local politicians faced this spring in a long, strange city election: voters barely noticed them. Stringer’s résumé was solid: lifelong Manhattanite, teenage community-board member, two decades in the state assembly, eight years as Manhattan borough president. Most notably, in 2013, he won a citywide election for comptroller against a formidable, well-funded opponent—former governor Eliot Spitzer.

https://issuesinsights.com/2025/07/01/the-democrats-phony-freakout-about-mamdani/

Democrats are worried about Mamdani not because of what he stands for, but because they know that saying these things out loud will turn off too many independent voters that they need to win elections.

It has been amusing to watch Democrats struggle to cope with the success of 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani’s decisive win in the New York mayoral primaries. Why all the handwringing? Mamdani is now the mainstream of the once great Democratic Party.

The only difference is that Mamdani isn’t afraid to say what other Democratic politicians try to hide.

Think about what Mamdani has proposed or supported:

A yearlong freeze on rent
A $30 minimum wage
Free bus service
City-owned grocery stores
Defunding the police
Calling Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide.

Every one of these positions is now supported in one way or another by “mainstream” Democrats.

Consider, first, the label “socialist.” While Democratic politicians try to pretend that they aren’t that, 57% of self-identified Democrats have a positive view of socialism, according to a 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center. Just 46% had a positive view of capitalism.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/anti-israel-socialist-wins-new-york-citys-democratic-mayoral-primary/

New York City, the city I have lived in and loved for many years, is on the verge of a catastrophe. Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist and Israel hater, is the presumed winner of the June 24th Democratic primary for the position of New York City mayor. Normally, the winner of the Democratic primary wins the general election in this overwhelmingly Democratic city, which means that this socialist, 33-year-old state assemblyman is poised to become New York City’s next mayor. The odds of the unpopular current mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, or the GOP nominee and founder of the Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa beating Mr. Mamdani in the general election are slim to none.

Zohran Mamdani’s platform is downright scary.

Crime will run rampant in the city under the leadership of Zohran Mamdani, who is anti-police. In the past, he has advocated defunding the police. His current platform uses euphemisms that would amount to essentially the same thing by prioritizing the creation of a new so-called “Department of Community Safety,” which will take “a public health approach to safety” instead of relying primarily on law enforcement officers to combat crime. Mr. Mamdani will have an enthusiastic ally, Alvin Bragg, the pro-criminal Manhattan District Attorney who won the primary vote for DA.

The city’s economy will crash under the leadership of this Marxist who touts city-owned grocery stores, fare-free buses, free childcare, a rent freeze, and other government handouts. All this largesse will come at the expense of already overburdened, successful taxpayers who are the engine of any vital economy, many of whom will leave the city behind for greener pastures.

As Margaret Thatcher wisely said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.”

Jews in New York City will be even less safe than they are now with a mayor who sides with antisemites in refusing to acknowledge that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. Zohran Mamdani also refused to condemn the antisemitic phrase “globalize the intifada” when given a chance. He claimed that the phrase spoke to “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights,” and he outrageously compared it to how the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis has been described.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/theres-no-hope-for-the-center-right-in-new-yorks-mayoral-race

Many center-right commentators argue that the 2025 New York City Democratic primary candidates have failed to confront the city’s core challenges: excessive spending, high taxes, and heavy regulation. They contend that residents receive inadequate services in return and that the city, rather than fostering economic competitiveness, relies on its fading prestige to retain affluent residents and major firms in finance and professional services. This view has more influence online and on podcasts than among the electorate. Investor and philanthropist Whitney Tilson, who has made many of these arguments, is polling at 1 percent in the primary.

The center-right’s failure to gain traction can be explained, in part, by the coalitions behind the two leading candidates. Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has assembled a base made up of groups largely content with the status quo and looking to him to preserve it. His principal challenger, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, draws support from those dissatisfied with the current system—but who see the solution as more public spending and higher taxes.

A recent analysis by local political commentator Michael Lange demonstrates how this situation materialized. Lange divides New York City’s State Assembly districts into seven categories, ranking them from most favorable to Mamdani to most favorable to Cuomo.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/new-york-citys-highly-dubious-mayoral-race/

I’ve seen widely loathed radicals win mayoral races in Chicago and Los Angeles in dubious ways. The LA race that gave the city Mayor Karen Bass had a whole lot of late-arriving ballots show up just in time twice.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t believe that election was legitimate. I don’t believe this one in New York City, my two hometowns, was either.

Yes, ranked choice voting was designed to produce victories for fringe radicals. And yes, the media showered Zohran Mamdani with uncritical praise. Finally, putting up Cuomo, a widely hated figure, as the unifying anti-Zohran figure was the worst possible choice imaginable.

Sure.

But the polls I’ve seen showed Cuomo winning women, voters over 50, and black and Latino voters, and working class voters, while Mamdani performed well only with white young college educated voters.

NYC’s demographics have not tilted so dramatically that white hipsters are not a decided majority.

So two things might have happened here

1. The polls were wrong. It’s happened before.

2. The turnout for the Columbia for Hamas crowd might have been really high and really low for everyone else.

And those are the legitimate things. I don’t need to bother spelling out the illegitimate ones.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/24/mayoral-election-first-round-results-cuomo-mamdani/

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is on track to secure the Democratic nomination for mayor, after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded to him Tuesday night following the first round of ranked-choice primary votes.

With 95% of precincts reporting two hours after polls closed at 9 p.m., 44% ranked Mamdani as their first choice while 36% chose Cuomo first and 11% had city Comptroller Brad Lander.

Mamdani emerged to raucus applause at his election party on a brewery rooftop in Long Island City, about 20 minutes after midnight.

https://www.aol.com/alvin-bragg-manhattan-prosecutor-took-011702400.html

 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who oversaw the historic hush-money case against President Donald Trump, won Tuesday’s Democratic primary as he seeks reelection.

Bragg defeated Patrick Timmins — a litigator, law professor and former Bronx assistant district attorney — to advance to November’s general election. About 70% of registered Manhattan voters are Democrats.

The first-term incumbent will face Republican Maud Maron, who was a public defender for decades and previously ran for Congress and NYC’s City Council as a Democrat.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/pro-hamas-group-invests-100k-in-muslim-mayoral-candidate/

Forget the Ground Zero mosque, New York City may end up with a ‘Ground Zero’ mayor, a Muslim socialist who hates America and Israel.

And you’ll never guess who’s backing him.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the anti-Israel group whose leader said he was “happy” about Oct. 7, is quietly funding socialist Zohran Mamdani’s bid for New York City mayor.

The Unity & Justice Fund, which CAIR formed last year to expand its political influence, has contributed $100,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the largest PAC supporting Mamdani, according to campaign records. The money was split between a $25,000 gift on May 30 and a $75,000 donation on June 16.

Unity and Justice, by the way, is a fairly typical Muslim Brotherhood name. The Egyptian Brotherhood Party was the Freedom and Justice Party. It’s the Justice and Development Party in Morocco and the Justice and Construction Party in Libya.

The common theme here is ‘Justice’ which within the Islamic framework means the supremacy of Islamic law.

And CAIR has Muslim Brotherhood roots.

The brand outside may be “lower costs” but the brand inside is ‘justice’ or Sharia law.