Tim Dillon explains New York.
November 9, 2025
"Zoran Momani has been elected.... So what?... What's the big deal? Obviously he was going to win.... You can just leave...."
"But there are people out there who... are finding it increasingly difficult to afford New York City. Those people — the paint-by-numbers/pin a ribbon on me/I did all of the right things/I have all of the right views/I post all of the right things on social media.... They're normies.... They're just boring and vapid and surface and dull and pointless.... and their concerns are so small and petty.... That is the coalition that Zoran has. He has a coalition of angry, boring, mediocre people that have done the right things and have gotten very little for it.... So the Democratic Party [is]... concentrating... how to get people more money.... By the way, that sign that you see those protests? 'I could be at brunch right now.' That's all they want.... All they wanna do is have Nutella-stuffed French toast, and talk about where they want to go on vacation. Their lives have no meaning. So they need money.... We pay them so that they can live in their homes and be perpetual forever children. And they do their meaningless work. And they come home and they cuddle up and they watch Netflix, watch 'The Summer I Turned Pretty.'... People used to come to New York City and fail and die.... But people used to come to try to be great.... But New York's become the burbs.... Everything becomes about comfort. And it is very easy to rile these people up because they feel that they should be getting more a bigger slice of the pie.... Why did I move here? Why am I here if I cannot share in the disgusting wealth that certain people have?... Where's my goddamn money?"
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193 comments:
That’s a pretty good take except for the ‘so what?’ Those who absorbed a bit of history know the end game when pols try to buy the electorate with free stuff. It’s tragic and we all know who gets stuck with the bill for cleanup after they have their fun. The numbers have gotten so big they might just take us all down this time…
Hasn’t New York always been attractive to kids from Schenectady or Ohio or wherever kids grow up thinking they grew up in a backwater? Like Portland OR is for kids from the west…
Move to a more affordable city or town. Find a new job. Just as millions of responsible, productive people have done for decades. Bad decisions usually result in less than ideal consequences.
…the big change for New York is the commerce is leaking, finance headed to Florida, tech dissolving to Texas or the crappy bay or wherever. You no longer need to be in NYC to be…
The grasshoppers always want what the worker ants have stored up. That why God gave them the Democrat Party to make up for shorting them on brains.
I went to New York once, many years ago, and within 30 minutes was accosted to buy drugs. I had never seen such a big city, so many people, with skyscrapers, except on TV. It was an…experience. I will never go back there again.
Detroit is a husk of what it once was. New York likely will be too. Organized syndicates picking winners and losers.
The United States of America will be neither worse nor better off without them - it would be better off with them, but that would be in a parallel universe.
When was it ever not “increasingly difficult to afford New York City?” I arrived in 1978, and it was already difficult, and the difficulty constantly increased.
I've heard similar thoughts about Zoran's coalition from other folks. It is a lot of young folks who 'did everything right,' they studied hard when younger, had the extra-curriculars, went to an expensive school whose name has cultural cachet, got the degree, moved to NYC to start their career, but that cushy and perhaps more importantly high status career never manifested. And these people are upset. And, to me at least, they have a reason to be upset. They were told a story from since they were young about how life works, which led them to make certain life choices at very young ages that have very large and lasting impacts on their life, like monumental student debt. So these people are mad at society in general and will take it out in general to get what they feel they deserve. But what really is the source of what got them into the situation is the University-NGO-Bureaucracy complex. Young folks are told that if they want money and status. If they want to be someone who matters they need to go to an expensive university and get a degree. So many do and they go deeply into debt to do it. These people's jobs almost never produce anything to justify their cost. They are kept afloat by various grants and carve outs, see the rescinded $2 Billion grant to Stacey Abrams' group for racial and environmental justice or whatever lefty buzzwords were attached. Disbursements like these do provide political influence and power to higher ups but their main function is to provide a certain income, status, and overall lifestyle to people who vote for the University-NGO-Bureaucracy complex. The people caught up in it, the cogs, perversely will never vote for actions to undo this corrupt system because even if they aren't getting the monetary well-being they expected from participating in it, they do feel like they get a certain status from having that degree. And if they don't have that nice income all they have is that status from the degree.
Red Jihadi or Orange Hitler, if you’re looking for a politician (of all people) to provide meaning in your life you’re just plain sad and lame.
Don’t forget NY is still a relatively safe haven for foreigners stashing assets away from the easy reach of their governments. The chinese and russians prolly won’t be let in to the dakota but condos area still a thing. They happily keep paying the taxes…
i have no money..
i have no skills..
i have no training..
i have no looks..
WHY can't *i* make it in NYC? IT'S NOT FAIR!!
What’s amazing is the illegals new yorkers are brazenly defending get the Brooklyn lifestyle for free.
Related to gilbar, I don’t understand why a nose ring causes me to make less money and can’t find a boyfriend, but Zohran gets me.
Well now....
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1986099753877442567
That's a difference right there!
When was it ever not “increasingly difficult to afford New York City?”
In the 1990’s, Broadway had a critically-acclaimed production regarding the difficulties of paying RENT.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Not just brats with a sense of entitlement to live in a cocoon. (Goodbye brat summer; hello brat winter). They find themselves highly qualified, unable to find relevant employment, hard to pay bills especially in the cities where they want to live. (By the way, whatever happened to working from home, where the real estate is cheap?)
They contrast themselves to the boomers, who were often under qualified and over paid, easily able to afford a house. In some ways the young people don't question boomer idealism. We must have open borders to prove love. Love involves sacrifices. Migrants make jobs scarce, and housing expensive. Retired boomers are sitting on a gold mine.
As Sinatra sings “if I can make other people pay for my life here, I can make other people pay for my life anywhere. it’s up to you, New York, New York”
The hostess lived in NYC for a while. Would love a sentence or two on her thoughts. Please no Cruel Neutrality on this one.
"America not Switzerland".
Because you dont want a virus to spread we already know what similar circumstances have done to la sf and portland
A NYzi, a Dezi, a Nazi, perhaps: Diversity, redistributive change, abortive ideation and a progressive religion. Forward!
The Vault Dweller at 649 - Nice post.
High density population, progressive taxation (i.e redistributive change schemes), illegak and legal aliens replacement with taxpayers subsidies, Obamacares and a 40 trillion dollar debt (i.e. progressive prices), market mutations including rent control, etc.
They're normies....
Like Hell! The plumber who fixed my shower drain — he’s normal. The long haul trucker who lives across the street — he’s normal. Mamdani’s “gimme gimme” voters. Yeah, right
They're just boring and vapid and surface and dull and pointless....
Well that part’s right.
Mamdamni(D) is asking his donors to send him money to he can run the city.
What a clown.
Nothing feeds a sense of entitlement like a little bit of free stuff and the opportunity to complain.
Too bad, kid. Sometimes the soufflé collapses all by itself. The cook still gets the blame.
It does seem that what New York produces today is nothing like it used to produce. It used to lead the world in all sorts of fields. From design to music, finance to literature. And of course, entertainment and dining.
It's just not so anymore. The price for admission- the cost of living there- used to be worth it. Ask the host of this blog what New York did for her back then.
But today? Today the world is decentralized. We don't need to have a central capital of All Things To Pay Attention To. We are all over, choosing our own locations to do our own thing. And things are coming out of the most unpredictable places. Even the tech industry which is largely entrenched south of San Francisco and up into that city, actually has tentacles that run all across America, and the world. Finance is decentralized and shared across many major metro areas now. Miami has become a home for some of it, but only some of it.
Music is produced everywhere. Not just New York- though great musicians still abound there. But Nashville, Detroit, Seattle, Portland. San Francisco, LA. You get the idea.
So those who choose to do New York these days, choose to be seen there. Not so much to be in the belly of the greatest creative center of the world, but to be seen at the scene of the formerly greatest creative center of the world. The world is decentralized now. We don't need a New York today the way we maybe used to.
Mamdani dropped the mask in his victory speech.. New York is a city filled with oppressors and the oppressed. Zohran the Magnificent will decide who is who, and select the winners and the losers. Because he is the great Zohran.
When he’s through, New York City will be suitable as a nuclear test site and not much else.
She never posts about her photogenic (?) jon anymore...
He still in NYC making lists of songs he loves, while the little bro reads a biography of the past presidents every week?
Seems they fared fine under your direction, prof? lol
Quit picking on Ohio. We have to dump Oberlin grads somewhere.
Anti-Capitalist neo-Marxists leftists are the real TAKERS and selfish a-holes. Clueless how reality works. intifada!
As for the kiddies who are all bent out of shape that they “did all the right things,” they actually did a small subset of the right things. In particular, they got degrees that were useless in the post-college job market. Sixty-plus years ago my parents made it plain that they wouldn’t help us get through college unless we majored in something we could leverage into employment.
"By the way, that sign that you see those protests? 'I could be at brunch right now.' That's all they want.... All they wanna do is have Nutella, stuffed French toast, and talk about where they want to go on vacation. Their lives have no meaning."
They want free stuff - all at tax payer expense...so they can travel. I see it all the time all around me. I am surrounded by these types of leftists.
As summarized by The Vault Dweller, the university credential has been vastly over-sold. A whole bunch of young people have been sold a bill of goods. The problem, which I foresee unfolding over the next 20 years, is not confined to NYC though the expense (particularly of rent) has exposed it there first. The entire US economy simply cannot meet the ridiculous expectations these over-credentialed types have. While the Democrat Party has no solution, they have settled on a strategy that counts on, indeed stirs up, that anger to win elections.
I for one look forward to the anger of the Left in New York when they ask why all the rich people moved out and are now in Florida.
The new mayor is an expression of frustration similar to the frustration of many Trump voters. These voters are trying a different approach. Not a new theme either.
The water has been warming slowly for decades and Democrat voters just turned up the gas, because someone told them it would be something different, which is technically true.
The rest of New York and the country needs to move away from the flame and protect themselves. The first thing that will happen is NYC asking the rest of us to bail them out of their own "democracy".
MAGA is specifically asking for something very different from the mistakes of past, They are asking for a return to what worked, while NYC Dems are trying the same mistakes, but harder, mistakes that have never worked anywhere anytime.
Frustration is something in common, but both are frustrated at the same mistakes. They just have different solutions, and one is a brain-dead reaction to it.
"The Vault Dweller at 649 - Nice post."
Seconded.
"They just have different solutions, and one is a brain-dead reaction to it."
The vibe has shifted but woke won.
The Gulf of Mexico now self-identifies as the Gulf of America. The department of defence has a new gender identity with its pretty boy "secretary of war" always immaculately manicured with a cute little pocket square and ready to change a regime near you. There's nothing wrong with Musk, Vance and Trump wearing more makeup than Martha Stewart ever did. "Regulate" can mean two different things in the same tariff statute - who cares man it's all like fluid and reality is subjective you know.
The frustration with the old vibe was supposed to be that it sought to impose a vision of reality which ran against the grain of the lived experience of every day Americans. We haven't shifted away from that, America has just imposed an illusion that's more comforting to the Trump base.
It's mildly irritating because I thought the "war on woke" was about boredom of discussing such largely irrelevant topics as much as it was about controlling Spider Man's gender identity.
But no -- turns out that the middle-aged male engineers and stable geniuses are just as interested in culture and identity as teenagers and socially stunted academics on university campuses.
It also just reflects the fact that there are real issues now like war, inflation and unemployment. The 2010s were a strange time shrouded in a miasma of fake QE money -- it wasn't real work, they weren't real issues and it wasn't real wealth.
Neo-Marxism exists to pit victim groups again each other - especially by artificial grievance like race/gender... while the Proletariat Dictators in charge - laugh. ....all the way to the bank.
Remember 10 years ago, all the smug superiority and sanctimony? It was all sort of encapsulated in the famous sneer, "Learn to code."
I'm sure Zohran Mamdani is wholly dedicated restoring that brief, shining moment for blue city whites with the blues.
Yeah, Kak. Islamo-communism is a "new approach." Sure.
Trump voters mostly want the old approach--get government out of our lives and let us get back to work. Not a new theme.
I've never been a fan of this guy, but he really nails it here.
"the cure for high prices is high prices..."
I'll believe that this is more than sound and fury when prices for real estate begin to fall in NYC (and CA and NoVa and...).
Until then, supply and demand tell me that the supposed numbers of people and companies leaving blue areas for red area is no more than a rounding error.
I wish I were wrong (maybe I am???), but the numbers do not lie.
If I were a Jew in NYC, I would be making my preparations to leave, but I would be doing the same if I were a Christian, Buddhist, or anything other than a Muslim in NYC. Presumably, the members of "Rabbis for Zohran" are staying put (until they are run out of town by the mob).
The guy who keeps adding taxes to business via tariffs and threatens them if they raise prices isn't the socialist?
The Hallmark Channel tells us some of these youngsters will skulk home and discover a happy life saving the Christmas tree farm or coffee shop with the high school crush what’s got his head on straight…
kak goes all in for the Inevitable Ultimate Subjugation.
Generation MeMeMe
The Right has ideologies that impose limitations on the extent of political action. The Left's various ideologies seem to have a codicil: no enemies to the left. That codicil builds coalitions, but has a built-in bias toward extremist elements with greater discipline and emotional intensity.
That's why one side says no to Nick Fuentes, and the other welcomes Antifa to the party.
Kakistocracy said...
The new mayor is an expression of frustration similar to the frustration of many Trump voters. These voters are trying a different approach. Not a new theme either.
Let me translate Kaki for everyone. The Democrats now realize that purging working class voters from the old Democrat coalition in favor of Identity politics, and hopes that class warfare can bring them back from Trump’s coalition.
They’ve (probably correctly) assumed that they don’t have to worry about losing Jews no matter how much anti-semitism they push.
I live in NYC. The garbage gets picked up, the streets are paved, and crime (exclusive of shoplifting) is low. I don't think this is because of the efforts of DeBlasio, Adams, and now Mamdani, but for whatever reason NYC is not a bad place to live...... I've lived here a long time. I think the low point came during the Beame years. Beame was as far as I can remember a proponent of crazy policies but NYC was failing during his years. Maybe NYC will survive Mamdani. We survived DeBlasio and in many ways he was a far bigger load than Mamdani.
Kak - your tariff schtick is old and tired..
The ultimate end result of fair trade and fair tariffs is the opposite of what you keep whining about.
erratum: I meant to say that Beame was not a proponent of crazy policies. Beame was an avatar of the conventional wisdom, but sometimes the conventional wisdom is crazy.
The one big lesson from Mamdani is the degree to which he motivated irregular and first-time voters -- young voters, in particular. Pretty remarkable for an NYC mayoral race. In order to win presidential cycles, the political parties need to turn-out irregular and first-time voters. The Democrats didn't do that in 2016 and 2024 and lost.
Local politics have also been nationalized and internationalized to a degree. e.g. who would have guessed that Netanyahu's visible presence would also help to super-charge anti-establishment campaigns and candidates within both major parties. This is the new reality.
You wanted a Communist NYC... you got one... now live with it. NYC can drop dead.
I did everything and my job was outsourced, insourced, aborted with a novel deal, automated and redistributed, excluded under Diversity quotas. I did everything, then I was stuffed in an urbane, congested, unaffordable environment with a progressive tax burden to make way for a Green blight. I did everything and got stuck with a 40 trillion dollar debt under the Obamacares umbrella incorporation
Big Mike: They’ve (probably correctly) assumed that they don’t have to worry about losing Jews no matter how much anti-semitism they push.
They don't have to worry about the Jews because of numbers. There will be many more muslims than Jews, and the left here like the left in the UK may not understand economics, but they do understand counting votes. The Jews need to be moving to the midwest where they will continued to be welcomed and to able to arm themselves.
Kak: “ The 2010s were a strange time shrouded in a miasma of fake QE money -- it wasn't real work, they weren't real issues and it wasn't real wealth.”
Nuggets like this are why I read your comments. Seriously. CC, JSM
"Government run owed grocery stores" sounds about as likely to happen a border wall that Mexico will pay for. Maybe just stop the performative pants-pissing for once in your fucking life.
"Maybe NYC will survive Mamdani. We survived DeBlasio..."
That's not an encouraging trend. Nobody said it would be sudden, but it's warming up faster than ever.
The saving grace is voting, but the left is doing what it can to take away that option from Americans.
Gotham is crumbling and they brought extra bull dozers
There are brotherhood colonies in the midwest as well
@jimmyfailla
"Mamdani had a CASH BAR at his victory party. If you can’t get a free vodka from this guy something tells me the free food and buses ain’t coming. Congrats, suckers."
yep.
The disappointment is understandable given that those who "did all the right things" to get to NYC grew up watching "Friends" and "Sex and the City." Those shows were never all that realistic (of course, now even less so).
Eric Adams - the black mayor - has been erased. A black man - erased by the white left.
why? Adams dared to complain about Crook Mob-Asshole Joe's illegals - using up all the city recourses.
He knows his audience they picked the rapist and pervert party
Remember, present and would-be New Yorkers: if you want to influence the world, you can now do it from anywhere, even...Madison, Wisconsin, a pleasant small city that is a lot cheaper.
FTP. Let it all crumble & burn. The great cull has to start somewhere and it might as well be NYC.
I don't know who he'll hire, but I have a feeling there will be many new employees that don't eat pork.
madmani(D), The radical Islamo-leftist - and his mentally ill white left lady base, demand intifada, sharia law, obedience, and other forms of oppression.
Jew hate is paramount. Destruction of Capitalism is the cherry on top of that shit cake. Wont you find it in your heart to send Madmami a donation. funding needed.
What will be interesting to watch is to see what impact the Mamdani race has on House seats in NYC in 2026. It would not surprise me if some House Democrats, including people in leadership, ended up losing their seats in primaries in 2026, because of their reluctance to follow the lead of their own voters and support Mamdani. It would not surprise me either if Schumer lost his Senate seat in 2026, or opted for retirement. Given the influence of the New York Democratic Party on the national party, what happens in NYC could be more consequential.
SNL’s musical guest last night was sombr, a 20-yo guy who grew up on the lower east side, went to Laguardia High, the selective public school for the performing arts next to Lincoln center, then dropped out when he started getting airplay. His music is a bit derivative - kind of like Editors or Francis or St Vincent - but you can’t help but share his excitement. He climbed the rigging during his second song.
Anyway, sombr is a symbol of what NYC used to be: a place where ordinary people can grow up and get a decent education and living. Unfortunately, that way of life was funded by taxes from factories, the Navy Yard, the financial district, etc. And the postmodern Dems are doing everything they can to dismantle that tax base.
Sombr’s act last night may indeed be the funeral dirge of old NYC. CC, JSM
@Steven Wilson, the history I’ve read tells me that many (most?) German Jews supported Adolph Hitler during his rise to power “because he does’t really mean it.” Turns out he did.
New York City’s Jews — living in the city Jesse Jackson characterized as “Hymietown” — and who supported Mamdani, will they eventually come to regret their decision for much the same reason as the Jews who supported Hitler? Are the Lubavitchers the canary in the New York coal mine? I cynically think that no matter what becomes of New York’s Jews they’ll still believe that it’s better than having to vote Republican
grew up watching "Friends"
A waitress, a chef who did catering gigs, and a spiritual woman who sung songs about odorous cats in coffee shops were somehow able to afford a 2,000+ square foot apartment in a trendy part of NYC.
"Kakistocracy said...
What will be interesting to watch is to see what impact the Mamdani race has on House seats in NYC in 2026"
The energy and the votes are with the AOC-Mamdani types, but the money and establishment connections are with the old fogies. Especially in the modern era of media, money and establishment connections do not move the needle as much as they used to.
Yesterday I also finally watched the new Fantastic 4 movie, since it was available without extra charge on my Disney+. It’s set in an alternative early-60s NYC, which is basically like Mad Men with a few extra bits of technology- just like the original F4 comics.
I was crying at times because of its accurate portrayal of the big city culture I saw pass away in the 70s (Chicago in my case). I remember when my uncle put his fedora away for good.
Best scene was Ben Grimm (The Thing), on the night before the world is supposed to end, going to the corner shul in his BK hood (he was retconned as Jewish in the 90s). Just fucking beautiful.
Too bad there’s not a real Ben Grimm who can rock up, tzitzot trailing behind him, to say “it’s clobberin time!” to Mandango and his Jew-hating crew.
Makes me feel better for liking Nazi Manhattan in Man in the High Castle….CC, JSM
The obvious analogy for Zohran Mamdani is Fiorello La Guardia who was a political outsider in his era as Mamdani is today. He was also charismatic, energetic and flexible. Ultimately La Guardia became the gold standard of a great NYC mayor.
Kak: true dat, as far as your praise of FLG. However, any parallels to Muh Dingo end there. LaG never tried to kill the golden goose. And he represented an Eye-talian immigrant culture that just wanted to assimilate into unnoticeability. CC, JSM
If all the rich folks are bailing out of NYC, presumably for Florida, who are they selling to? Maybe Mamdani has been installed to scare them away, so Black Rock can pick up their properties for cheap.
New York without Wall Street money is just Baltimore. Since electrons can originate anywhere, Wall Street is slowly moving to where living is cheaper.
@ John Mosby: The other analogy could be John Lindsay. Elected for charisma. Disaster.
Or Mayor Linseed, as he was called on Batman. CC, JSM
LOL, Bich. Mamdani is definitely an outside and definitely energetic and charismatic. However, he is probably as flexible as Fidel Castro to whom Mamdani more resembles.
There are only two outcomes here- Mamdani gets stymied by Albany and New York City's coucil, gets bored and finishes his two terms of further incremental decay, like DeBlasio, or he gets all his wishes and the decay accelerates as all the wealth vanishes and New York housing becomes as cheap as a boarded up Baltimore row house.
Anyway, sombr is a symbol of what NYC used to be: a place where ordinary people can grow up and get a decent education and living. Unfortunately, that way of life was funded by taxes from factories, the Navy Yard, the financial district, etc. And the postmodern Dems are doing everything they can to dismantle that tax base.
-----------
Not everybody is "good making money", but it doesn't mean they are not good workers...
The destruction of the non-public sector labor unions; the mass importation of non-citizen labor who will "take what they are given and be glad to get it"; and the unchecked rise of the financiers, who are determined to squeeze every nickel out of their "investments" -- essentially selling out the American people-- is what is ruining this country and making us into a caste system of economic inequality.
Some took too much... Looking at you, ms. althouse. "You just take more, you just take more, you just take more than you give..."
It's people chasing a dream that is already dead. Greenwich Village, the Algonquin Round Table, the Beats, the New York school of painting or poetry -- all that is gone. In part it's because those places aren't charmed anymore. You won't find the Lost Generation experience if you move to Paris either. The future (if it's anywhere) is somewhere else.
In part it's because life and the culture have changed so much. Publishing, journalism, literature, the arts, education -- nothing is what it used to be. The old institutions don't have the life or energy or conviction or purpose or effect on the world they once had, and with AI things will only get worse for would-be "creatives."
Still, if you have to rant, mention Nutella and you'll bring a smile to everyone's face.
The norridge city council wont stop him as for witch hochul give me a break
Lindsay at least had some record not much Gotham is done whether by fire or flood
Those were the two iterations in dark knight rises and the last one
A Yancey Ward points out -- the Mayor's office/agenda is most definitely constrained by 'upper management'.
She has already wrecked the state without mamdanis help
Look at what pritzker has done to illinois
The obvious analogy for Zohran Mamdani is Fiorello La Guardia who was a political outsider in his era as Mamdani is today. He was also charismatic, energetic and flexible.
In one of his races Fiorello La Guardia was labeled an anti-semite by his opponent. La Guardia responded by challenging that opponent to a debate to be conducted entirely in Yiddish. Killed that phony issue dead.
BTW, La Guardia was a Republican. Not every Republican mayor has been totally outstanding, but you’d have to back at least a century to find a Democrat who was worth a shit.
We are deep in the crazy years
Yes that film has its charms i didnt really follow the comics but i vaguely recalled the animated series reed richards would never do anything as stupid as pascal did in that film
Fiorello lovec the city how many ways does mamdani have to tell you he hates the people there (50 ways like the paul simon song)
Same with chicago or la, as the charred debris literally appears
Oh waiter
https://nypost.com/2025/11/09/us-news/nyc-councilman-chi-osse-gears-up-for-primary-challenge-against-hakeem-jeffries-
You know who else was considered an energetic political outsider when he hit the scene?
No not him. Think 1930s.
I could have thrown in Jew hater, but that would give it away.
'There willl wailing and gnashing of teeth'
Great opportunity for China and rich anti-American Muslims to sow chaos by supporting him financially
But for loving and being loved by Jesus and Christian women, Democrat women and trans activists offer a pretty good case for converting to Islam.
Who do you think paid for him (dan greenfield has receipts)
"Think 1930s."
FDR?
NYC city is expensive, because no matter what it cost, some will pay it even if it takes every dollar they make. This is a voluntary situation.
..."Lefty Gen-Z City Councilman Chi Osse is preparing to challenge Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the US House next year — against the explicit objections of mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, The Post has learned....
The second source confirmed Osse has already started hiring his staff to challenge the Brooklyn Democrat...."
https://nypost.com/2025/11/09/us-news/nyc-councilman-chi-osse-gears-up-for-primary-challenge-against-hakeem-jeffries-sources/
Follow the money. Who is funding him?
“They contrast themselves to the boomers, who were often under qualified and over paid, easily able to afford a house.”
This is a weirdly enduring myth. Most Boomers I know didn’t become truly prosperous until their ‘40’s. Paying the mortgage for that “easily affordable house” required discipline, intelligent choices, and hard work. I know 30 year-olds, with very average jobs, whose starter homes seem palatial compared to the one I started with (and never mind the Quonset but my parents started in).
Also, it’s easy to forget that there’s a significant number of Boomers who are/were the exact equivalent Zohran’s entitled Prog slackers, and who never acquired prosperity or property.
Boomers didnt have expectations of 6 figure jobs like gen z
The excess supply of (excess female) holders of marginal, useless, and worse than useless college degrees crystallized into yet another underclass category that would reliably cling to and vote for socialist / communist policies…
"Paying the mortgage for that “easily affordable house” required discipline, intelligent choices, and hard work."
My first mortgage might have been affordable (with a 16% interest rate, just barely), but it wasn't easy- I worked two jobs (one full time, one part time) in order to make it happen. And it wasn't a house, it was a one bedroom condo.
Good times...
So mamdani is like sam bankman fried but worse
I think Mamdani, and the hard left, summed it up during the campaign. When people asked if the change Mamdani promoted went far too far the answer was, "Well he can't really make all those changes".
Cold comfort for the real normies in NYC, I'm sure.
I'm namdamnied out. Wake me up when Charleton Heston finds the Statue of Liberty sticking up out of the sand at Pt. Dume Zuma Beach.
Whos gonna real stop him hes a hun in a nicer suit
’BTW, La Guardia was a Republican.’
He was a member of eleven political parties during his career - including Bull Moose and Socialist - so I’m guessing his ideology was somewhat flexible, with expediency reigning supreme.
I know the choices were turrble except for sliwa he actually had done some good for the city
Scott Hughes @scotthughesCBB
Rick Pitino after St. John’s 103-96 loss to Alabama at Madison Square Garden:
“That was the worst f***ing defensive performance I've ever witnessed in New York City…And we just let a Communist take over City Hall earlier this week.”
“… Quonset but my parents started in).”
Katie Porter: Quonset Butt
You make a generationally stupid choice im not going to let it go
This is a weirdly enduring myth. Most Boomers I know didn’t become truly prosperous until their ‘40’s. Paying the mortgage for that “easily affordable house” required discipline, intelligent choices, and hard work.
@Cracker, agreed! Wife and I bought a fixer-upper and put a ton of sweat equity into making it a home. Luckily my father was an electrician because the previous owner had jury-rigged some of the wiring and we could have been burned down. Those of us who entered the housing market during the Carter administration have no fond memories of the mortgage rates of the msn.
I guess these days the house-flippers who think they’re going to be the next Tarek and Christina bid up the cost of fixer-uppers, but that’s not the fault of us Boomers.
’That was the worst f***ing defensive performance I've ever witnessed in New York City…And we just let a Communist take over City Hall earlier this week.’
I love it when worlds collide!! RTR
Big Mike: "La Guardia responded by challenging that opponent to a debate to be conducted entirely in Yiddish."
Cool! I kind of doubt Fiorello was fluent in Yiddish, but he probably could have come up with a 5-minute string of invectives:
"Oy gevalt! Mein opponent ist ein gonef, schlemiel, schmuck, ein fershlugginer Kriminel, und auf mir, ist nicht schein....."
CC, JSM
We’ll make it Islam City
Put down the nitty gritty with the Muslim Brotherhood’s hand
Lay some horseshit down as the news is spread around
About the Zohran Mamdingleberry Band!
We’ll play some funky boogie and lay some AWFL booty
Singing Allahu Akbar, YES WE CAN!
New York City...New York City...New York City
Que pasa New York?...Que pasa New York?
You fucked up
h/t John Winston Lennon
Just a suggestion: Let Howard sleep. He needs the rest.
He be one tired futhermucker.
Momani is urban slang for more money which is jive in the hood for mo' money.
Momani could also be Gemini screwing with its Blogger cousin.
NYC survived Comrade DeBlasio, I suspect it will survive Comrade Mamdani.
In any case, Mrs. Maynard and I will be visiting at the end of February. We will let you know what it's like.
In one of his races Fiorello La Guardia was labeled an anti-semite by his opponent. La Guardia responded by challenging that opponent to a debate to be conducted entirely in Yiddish. Killed that phony issue dead.
BTW, La Guardia was a Republican.
He was also Jewish, by the way (his mother's side). Though that wouldn't account for the Yiddish, as his mother was Sephardic from Italy and would not likely have spoken Yiddish.
"bagoh20 said
No not him. Think 1930s.
I could have thrown in Jew hater, but that would give it away."
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem?
His campaign volunteers and supporters who showed up to his victory party were charged $13 for a Bud Light. Can't wait for all the 'free' stuff to start flowing!
…as with the incoming governor of Virginia his first order of business with be to demand billions extra from the US Treasury. When that isn’t enough the soaking any money making captives left in New York. Ever been charged twenty dollars at a remote hotel? It’s like that…
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1987550101703909532.html?utm_campaign=topunroll
Maybe she can grift from her brotherhood allies at isa
"If I can take it there, I can take it anywhere"
So fire alarm bowman is in the running for superintendent
This just gets better and better
"So the Democratic Party [is]... concentrating... how to get people more money"
I'm guessing the answer won't be to develop and provide a product/service that others would willingly buy.
Sólionath on X: "When Tapper and co. say “Nazis,” they mean Charlie Kirk. They mean the average, every-day Trump voter. They don’t mean extremists – they mean your kindly, church-going grandma. They mean your brother. They mean your neighbour and his children. They mean you." / X https://share.google/ozLaZpk7cqp7YcB3M
Mamdani is a clone of Obama. Both are dedicated destroy America activists with big smiles used to attract voters.
’I'm guessing the answer won't be to develop and provide a product/service that others would willingly buy.’
How dare you!!
Hey with a petroleum engineering degree from Texas A&M or from Oklahoma State--a kid could be making big bucks. OTOH with a Gender Studies Degree from say Brown--he can live in a a squat in New York City.
Data Republican thread unrolled
...it isn't surprising this is happening to anyone paying attention. Those predisposed to trusting government and media are all the cover they need. Makes the idea Barack runs things look kind of silly, too...
“I'm guessing the answer won't be to develop and provide a product/service that others would willingly buy.”
Same as it ever was…
rehajm said...
"Those who absorbed a bit of history know the end game when pols try to buy the electorate with free stuff. It’s tragic and we all know who gets stuck with the bill for cleanup after they have their fun. The numbers have gotten so big they might just take us all down this time…"
Speaking of free stuff, I wonder when the Trump Org will open a bank where I can use the promised $2K tariff bonus and my ACA direct payment as colateral for a loan, so I can buy some Trump coins. I mean the President of the United States says I'm gone get this.
Free Stuff is great, but Trump offering CASH!
rehajm said...
"Hasn’t New York always been attractive to kids from Schenectady..."
As a (once upon a time) kid from Schenectady, NYC lost its appeal with the deaths of Tuli Kupferberg, Lou Reed, and, of course, Milan Greer.
Not to mention the demise of Knickerbocker Beer.
As a (once upon a time) kid from Schenectady
my condolences...
All those young people with non-lucrative degrees and burdened with student debt are taking it out on the rich. Why don't they blame the old Alma Mater, which jacked up the tuition and fed them a lot of guff about the worth of their degrees? Instapundit has been working on this for years.
"New York, NY is home to a population of 8.52M people, from which 85% are citizens. As of 2023, 36% of New York, NY residents were born outside of the country (3.07M people)."
Would be interesting to see percentage of adult NYC citizens born in USA compared to adult NYC citizens born outside of USA.
Listen enough to this Dillon character, and you'll conclude he's crazier than a shithouse rat. He wants "retired, bored" people to volunteer to be Air Traffic Controllers..."How hard can it be?", he asks.
('Reminds me of Bloomburg dissing farmers:
"You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn." )
Listen enough to this Dillon character, and you'll conclude he's crazier than a shithouse rat. He wants "retired, bored" people to volunteer to be Air Traffic Controllers..."How hard can it be?", he asks.
('Reminds me of Bloomburg dissing farmers:
"You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn." )
"Why don't they blame the old Alma Mater, which jacked up the tuition and fed them a lot of guff about the worth of their degrees?"
Because doing so would involve admitting that they were fooled and are not as smart as their degrees say they are.
“ It is a lot of young folks who 'did everything right,' they studied hard when younger, had the extra-curriculars, went to an expensive school whose name has cultural cachet, got the degree, moved to NYC to start their career”
Judging from some of posts I see on X, I have a hard time believing they studied hard.
Hafta be amused at we normals predicting and hoping for Mandami disaster, just like the whackos predicted, and continue to predict Trump disaster..
Do sensible things and they say youre crazy, do crazy things ane they say 'what could go wrong'
In LaGuardia's day the big issue in NYC politics was whether one supported or opposed Tammany Hall, the city's Democratic political machine. LaGuardia was a reformer who opposed Tammany. He was able to build an anti-Tammany coalition of various parties. New York state's laws allowed and still allow the votes a candidate gets on different party lines to be totalled up and this encourages third parties and "fusion" candidacies, like LaGuardia's. LaGuardia was a very atypical Republican who bolted to support Progressive/Socialist candidate LaFollette in 1924 and formed a close alliance with FDR in the Thirties.
Quite a read, rehajm.
Some may call that treason. It sure smells of it.
Time will tell if he remains true blue with proglib principles: Diversity, redistributive change, political congruence, wicked solution, etc.
Quite a read, rehajm.
...narciso's link made clickable is all, som of the elements have been out there...
Thanks this is as natural event as a convention of bottle blondes
bagoh20 said
No not him. Think 1930s.
I could have thrown in Jew hater, but that would give it away.
Huey Long.
’Makes the idea Barack runs things look kind of silly, too...’
I am blessed to have cut my political blogging teeth at JustOneMinute, so I learned to be skeptical that Barry ever ran anything at all. It was also the first place I saw the term ‘uniparty’ discussed. Damned conspiracy theorists…
You know right
So disappointment, disillusionment, mixed with some envy and maybe even some resentment are what led many to vote for a socialist anti-semite who gave a rather angry victory speech which was bad enough even the Washington Post had to say something.
’You know right’
I tried to find an old post there last week and the entire site is wiped from the internet. Very sad. A lot of accumulated wisdom was lost. Dang…
Yesterday would have been captains birthday
Didn’t remember that, narc. He is missed…
"He has a coalition of angry, boring, mediocre people that have done the right things and have gotten very little for it...."
And they're about to get even less.
"And they're about to get even less."
Less than $13 Bud Lights?
Fullmoon: "Would be interesting to see percentage of adult NYC citizens born in USA compared to adult NYC citizens born outside of USA."
I am probably oversimplifying, but:
85% citizens means 15% noncitizens. (both expressed as % of total population)
36% of total pop is born outside USA. All of the noncitizens are born outside the USA. Therefore 36-15 = 21% of the total pop are citizens born outside the USA.
Which means 64% of the total pop are US-born citizens.
If you want percentages of just the citizens:
21 out of 85 percent = 24.7% of citizens are foreign-born.
64 out of 85 percent = 75.2% of citizens are US-born.
I am sure someone will find how I oversimplified this. But it looks about right. CC, JSM
Oh crap, you said 'adult.' Yes, we don't have specific figures for adults versus children. I would guess that the foreign-born skew young, so perhaps more than 75.2% of the adult US citizens are US-born.
But even at 75.2%, this means a huge amount of US-born citizens voted against their interest. Perhaps this is what you were driving at, Fullmoon? CC, JSM
Well 1/7 new yorkers
Mamdani is direct output of Rap Music Culture + Social Media + Helicopter Parenting = new adult-generation of entitled, self-absorbed and mentally disregulated folks. Welcome to the new world, boomers.
We had a discussion years ago about how dangerous, in my mind, it was to let teenagers sign off on a very expensive college educations when they clearly did not have the maturity to make those decisions. This is the result, or at least one of the results. They think they did everything right, but they clearly did everything wrong.
The ironic thing here is most of them have useless degrees which the institutions of higher learning were more than happy to fleece them, but these "right thinking" people think of those schools as their allies. It very much feels like cult behavior.
I do not accept the characterization that the disaffected people have actually done "the right things."
What they did, if they are graduates of "elite" colleges, was to have a bit above average intelligence, willingness and ability to engage in the right sports or performing arts, and sufficient self-disciplined to grind their way through high school without let-up.
Almost universally these are the students who never took ay risks, never allowed themselves to go all-in on a talent or develop a passion beyond a passion for getting into Ivy U.
Once they got there, they worked diligently and earned meaninglessly high grades (everyone at Stanford has a 3.8). They didn't major in the endlessly maligned "____ Studies," but in Psychology, Political Science, History, English, and even Biology (though with a focus on Environmental Science).
They are, in the words of one Ivy professor, "excellent sheep": polite, well put together, good looking, well dressed.
And now they're resentful because the pay they get for their jobs is not commensurate with the reward they received when they got their acceptance letter from Ivy U. When they say that they did "everything right," they're assuming that what they did to get into their elite college was "right" and that the same strategy should continue to work after college. These are assumptions that, if examined closely, seem to be fundamentally wrong.
I've been looking for a post to expound on what I think would cause young people to vote for Mamdani but Vault Dweller covered it nicely. Saddled with debt, few prospects, they don't have many choices other than wish casting or knuckling under to the system they have been taught to hate.
About the native born vs. foreign born population of NYC, the bigger question is the percentage of the population that has been in NYC for a significant period of time. It has been said that the population of the city is regularly changing. New immigrant groups move in, and then move out. Young people move in to chase their dreams, and then leave after they fail to achieve those dreams or they do achieve those dreams and want to raise their family out in the suburbs. Etc. I sense the percentage of the population that can remember the Giuliani years is a minority.
Some of the EYAs (Elite Young Adults) did everything right and got taken into the NGO Archpelago and are working their way up from little NGOs to bigger NGOs by mindlessly agreeing to socialism. And some EYAs did everything right but did not get taken in and are supporting socialism out of resentment. So, as you can see, in a strange twist, both groups of EYAs support the same solution - socialism. One to get ahead; the other because it did not get ahead.
Similarly, migrants left the old country because socialist economies left them poor and migrants are now voting to establish a socialist economy in order to get rich in the new country.
Magical Socialism with Zoran the Great as Dear Leader.
Or, perhaps, "we are here as upon a darkling plain swept by confused alarms of struggle and fight where ignorant armies clash by night." In other words, we are in a change we can't understand. As a result, the principle of identity is lost and things that cannot be the same have the same name.
"They think they did everything right, but they clearly did everything wrong."
Democrats want to let people younger than college-age vote.
Amen. Prof Drout. We have overincentivized compliance.
The new NYC mayor is an unqualified poseur.
But why would any 20-30 year old vote for Andrew Cuomo?
Prof. M. Drout said...
They didn't major in the endlessly maligned "____ Studies," but in Psychology, Political Science, History, English, and even Biology (though with a focus on Environmental Science).
I watched a video recently of the degrees to avoid, at least if you want to get paid. Most of those are on the list. (Psychology can be a useful degree if you get a masters, but a bachelors is useless.) The thing about biology is you would think it would be useful for doctors before they go to medical school, but apparently doctors who did get a biology degree found it to be unnecessary and a waste of time and money.
The key thing to remember is if your most lucrative career with the degree is becoming a college professor, you are getting scammed.
"I sense the percentage of the population that can remember the Giuliani years is a minority."
Even worse, they don't remember the Dinkin years.
I don't know who Tim Dillon is, nor do I care, but his opinion and waas discovered in .and is bent away from the realities of New York City.
In the NYC world of regulated rents, the landlords run the show. Regulations permit rent increases to cover costs of repairs and improvements, and the Trumps figured out how to mark up these costs using a company called All County Building Supply and Maintenance, which was ostensibly act as purchasing agent. Instead, All County siphoned millions of dollars from Fred Trump’s empire by simply marking up purchases already made by Trump employees and passing the markups to tenants as increased rents. This began in 1992 and was discovered in 2018.
NYC rents will never be normalized until the greedy landlords are controlled. Sadly, it took one such landlord becoming president for the world to know,
"NYC rents will never be normalized until the greedy landlords are controlled."
It took a special kind of non intellect to concoct that statement.
" A thing is worth what that thing will bring." Adam Smith or some such asshole. IOWs ,Gadfly. The market always determines price. Including rents. Do you want cheaper apartments? Build more apartments.
Funny video on YouTube. A guy raps on the door of a NYC bus. Driver opens the door. Guy asks, " Can you tell me when the free bus rides start?" The bus drivers laughs and tells him, "That ain't ever gonna happen."
Doing what you are told is not always "doing the right thing" and definitely not doing the smart thing. It's mindless and relatively effortless today, because the system makes compliance easier every year and passes the costs on to others or your future.
Higher education is basically doing what you are told, jumping through hoops that often teach you nothing. The point is to get your obligation to pay. Everything else is easily abandoned, especially if it gets in the way of job 1.
The grasshoppers always want what the worker ants have stored up. That why God gave them the Democrat Party to make up for shorting them on brains.
It's also why the Founding Fathers gave the worker ants the Second Amendment.
apparently doctors who did get a biology degree found it to be unnecessary and a waste of time and money.
I know a lot of doctors and this is true. Most of what a doctor needs to know on a day to day basis is taught in residency. The rest comes either in medical school or in the core undergraduate requirements, i.e. 200-level biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and calculus. 300-level biochemistry is not a formal requirement, but "recommended", and you better be a superstar in some other metric if you apply to a competitive med school without it. But all other upper-level biology courses are of little utility for those going into clinical practice rather than research. A smart English major or criminal justice major will do better in medical school than a dumb biology or physiology major, and this carries over to residency and then to fully qualified professional practice.
Biology degrees are not even very helpful for gaining admission to medical school in the first place. They are considered relatively easy and common, and do not make an individual applicant stand out from the others. Someone who did well in a much harder subject like math, physics, or engineering will always have an advantage over a biology major, ceteris paribus. Even humanities majors have higher acceptance rates than bio majors.
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