African Americans

New York City Mayoralty Race In Tumult!

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New York City, the largest city in America, will elect its 111th Mayor in its history in November.

In a “wild and woolly” race, we have professed Democratic Socialist and Shiite Muslim Queens County State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, 33 years old, way ahead of former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, present NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican Guardian Angels Founder Curtis Sliwa.

While there is concern about Mamdani’s Socialist leanings and his Shiite Muslim religion, he is seen as winning no matter who stays in the race or drops out.

Sliwa certainly has ZERO chance of being elected Mayor, as there is no appetite to elect a Republican to the Mayoralty in the time of Donald Trump.

Sliwa is no Fiorello LaGuardia, John Lindsey, Rudy Giuliani, or Michael Bloomberg, all affiliated with the Republican Party in the past hundred years of Mayoral history.

Adams has become the only sitting Mayor to be indicted, and then, seemingly, given a pass by Donald Trump as long as he does not interfere with ICE Raids. The corruption in his administration of so many aides, along with his own personal corruption, is mind boggling.

At the same time, Andrew Cuomo has a corrupt background as well, forcing him to resign as NY Governor in 2021 on sexual harassment accusations.

So polls indicate despite concerns about Mamdani’s background and experience and his youth, he is extremely likely to win the election, despite police unions against him, the Jewish community uneasy, and the African American community being disinterested in him.

Mamdani has drawn support particularly from young voters, and Latino, Asian American, and white liberal voters, who see him as a refreshing change from corrupt leadership of Adams and Cuomo.

Mamdani has over 40 percent in the polls, and if any of his opponents drop out of the race, he rises to the mid to high 40s.

It is not a requirement for any candidate for Mayor or any public office in America to win a majority of the popular vote, as many Presidents have not done so, as well as Governors and Senators historically.

So it is likely that Mamdani will become the 111th Mayor!

And Mamdani will face the hostile President Trump, who has spoken of sending the National Guard into NYC, and even of deporting Mamdani, who was born in Uganda where he lived to age 5, then in South Africa until age 7, and then moved to New York City.

Both his parents are of Indian descent, with his mother being Hindu and his father being Muslim.

Trump Systematically Destroying All Reforms From Progressive Era Onward!

Ronald 26 Comments

Donald Trump is systematically destroying all reforms from the Progressive Era onward, with particular attention to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has been a willing participant in this reversal of all of the great changes that promoted equality and justice, which became about after nearly a century since the Civil War of continued violation of basic human rights to African Americans and other minorities, including women and gay and lesbian Americans.

This is a very emotional time, as Donald Trump is moving full stream ahead, to return America to the late 19th century Gilded Age, where multi millionaires dominated the economy without any government regulation, and where racial discrimination and lack of basic human rights to anyone other than white male Christians predominated.

Trump and his supporters in the most despicable and corrupt Cabinet in American history are actively destroying

the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era reforms that he initiated, through his Square Deal and New Nationalism proposals and actions.

the reforms of Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom legislation.

undermining the social justice reforms of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt ;

and the Fair Deal of Harry Truman;

and the civil rights advancements of Dwight D. Eisenhower;

and the ideals of the New Frontier of John F. Kennedy;

and the overwhelming reforms in so many areas of public life of the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson;

and the many initiatives of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden toward major reform initiatives.

Trump has declared war on common decency and humanity, and has ushered in an American Fascism, reminiscent of Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco, Juan Peron, and other right wing dictators.

The danger that there will not be free and fair elections, and the attempt to promote midstream Texas gerrymandering to weaken an opposition Democratic Party challenge to the authoritarianism taking place, is totally horrifying and depressing!

Shocking, Stunning NYC Mayoral Democratic Primary!

Ronald 12 Comments

New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a mostly obscure politician with only brief experience in government at age 33, born in Uganda of Indian parents, with his father Muslim and his mother Hindu, with him professing to be a Muslim who is pro Palestinian in his views, has stunned the Democratic political establishment in New York City and nationwide, with his shocking, stunning, seismic first round victory in the NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary, over highly favored former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo!

Mamdani, seemingly, came out of “nowhere” and has a seven point lead on Cuomo, with ranked choice voting system adopted by NYC having to wait until July 1 or later, before having a final victory in the primary, but with a solid seven point leader for Mamdani likely to hold up in the end.

The ultimate Democratic nominee for Mayor will be a heavy favorite to win in a city strongly loyal to that party. But present Mayor Eric Adams, under a cloud of corruption, will be on the ballot as an Independent, and Cuomo had previously planned to run on an Indepedent line along with what he hoped would be the Democratic nomination. So if Cuomo does that, it will be a”wild and wooly” campaign, with Mamdani, despite his strong left wing views, likely to win, but no certainty at the result in November.

At age 33, which would make Mamdani the youngest Mayor since John Purroy Mitchel (1914-1917), he would with his Muslim heritage have to combat both Jewish groups that in most cases would be against him; African Americans, who would favor Adams; Establishment figures who would favor Cuomo; and with the likelihood of great conflict in the future between a potential Mayor Mamdani and the Trump Administration.

Ranked Choice Voting is only used widely in three states–Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii, along with a number of states in local elections, and some cities, including Washington DC; New York City; Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; and Oakland and San Francisco, California.

Mamdani, with his Democratic “Socialist” ideas, would be, likely, the most leftist Mayor of New York in modern times, and possibly, of any major city, and with his backing and endorsement by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, makes “fireworks” likely in NYC politics by the various opposing groups in the city and in the national government.

It reminds one of Mayor Fernando Wood, who served two rounds as NYC Mayor (1855-1858) and (1860-1861), becoming a leading critic of Abraham Lincoln, and a supporter of the Confederacy in the first year of the Civil War as a “Copperhead”, northern supporter of the South against the Union. He even proposed NYC secede from the Union!

Wood also served in the US House of Representatives from 1863-1865, as well as later terms, and promoted continuing opposition to Lincoln and the Civil War, and opposed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ending slavery. He was also married three times, including his third marriage at age 48 to a 16 year old!

Most certainly, Mamdani will shake up American politics if he becomes Mayor of NYC, with its 8 plus million people, larger than all but 12 of the 50 states in America!

Odd Change Of Support For Both Political Parties: Will It Affect The Future?

Ronald 7 Comments

The tradition has been that African Americans and Latinos, and people who are working class and less educated voters, tend to vote Democratic, and that white suburbanites and wealthy, educated voters vote Republican.

That changed in the Presidential Election Of 2024, but it is hard to know if it is simply a one time occurrence.

What is clear also is that young women are moving more toward the Democrats, while younger men are moving toward the Republicans, but again, that may be an outlier as well.

It makes trying to project ahead for the Midterm Congressional and state elections of 2026, and the Presidential Election of 2028, a massive challenge for both parties.

At this point, Democrats have a tremendous, talented group of Governors, along with a few Senators and Representatives, who are seen as potential national candidates.

Having so many potential candidates may be a blessing, or a curse, while the Republicans, seemingly, have far fewer potential candidates.

Recruitment of candidates for state and national office is in full swing now, as the talent pool will be particularly urgent for Democrats!

Whether the Democrats can reorganize much of the coalition that won the Presidency twice for Barack Obama ins 2008 and 2012 is a crucial matter, as we plan ahead for 2026 and 2028.

The Hidden Victims Of Donald Trump’s Economic Disaster!

Ronald 3 Comments

As the effects of Donald Trump’s fixation on protective tariffs as a major part of his economic policies take hold, there are many hidden victims, who will suffer the most.

With escalating prices on all kinds of consumer goods, not just dolls or pencils, as stated by Trump in his Meet The Press interview that aired on Sunday, there will be massive suffering and spreading poverty across America.

Many of the white working class people who thought Donald Trump would be preferable to a mixed race woman as President (Kamala Harris), will suffer mightily, as many will lose their jobs, will lose their homes, will be unable to purchase basic “groceries”, including eggs, so much emphasized in the campaign in 2024.

But also, African Americans and Latino Americans will suffer mightily, as they lose opportunities to move ahead, with the attack on DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), which will affect educational opportunities, and employment prospects.

Additionally, many of “Generation Z”, already having difficulties moving ahead toward independence from their family upbringing, will have to endure the uncertainty of their futures, in an economy which is moving toward a severe recession, if not a Second Great Depression.

With a national government headed by billionaires, the oligarchy that controls so much of the American economic future, having no concern except their own greed, selfishness and further aggrandizement, a revival of the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century will lead to further exploitation and great human suffering.

And internationally, the nation will be under the greatest threat since World War II, as isolationism, which helped to bring about the horrors of that war, will put American national security at risk.

It is sad to write this “gloomy” essay, but this author and blogger senses that this is the future of America in the age of Donald Trump, and with no certainty that it would be improved once Trump leaves office, if he does, by January 20, 2029, if not sooner!

Donald Trump’s Promotion Of Return Of Racial Segregation!

Ronald 13 Comments

It is unfathomable how Donald Trump, 70 years after the unanimous Brown V Board of Education Supreme Court decision (1954) outlawed racial segregation, which promoted the Civil Rights Movement and transformed the nation, is working earnestly to reverse all of that progress, and promote the return of segregation.

In the 1960s, Alabama Governor George Wallace became a threat as a third party nominee with the same aim as Donald Trump, but he could not win the Presidency, thank goodness.

But now Trump is going full scale ahead to wipe out all of the racial progress, advocating discrimination returning as official policy, thrilling white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party supporters.

Trump is going beyond just race, but also gender, wishing to set back the vast progress of women in American life since the 1960s.

Trump has, by an extensive number of executive orders, promoted all end of DEI initiatives at all levels, including higher education institutions, corporations, federal government agencies, and cultural institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington DC and across the nation.

Trump is working to destroy all civil rights litigation, and causing growing fear that police and law enforcement will return to the era of abuse toward racial and ethnic minorities.

All references to notable African Americans, Latinos, native Americans, women, and gay, lesbian and transgender people are being scrubbed from government websites.

And Trump is trying to totally close down the Department of Education created under President Jimmy Carter in 1979, to promote equal educational opportunity and funding for low income and marginalized students.

His aim is to promote White Male Supremacy and dominance, what people who would agree with him would consider “The Good Old Days” before the 1950s and since!

All decent, fairminded people must work to resist and overcome this clearcut racism, nativism, and misogyny of Donald Trump!

A Multitude Of Qualified Democrats For 2028, As Party Assesses The Future!

admin 19 Comments

A week after the disturbing defeat of Kamala Harris, causing great distress and dismay among Democrats, including this author and blogger, it is important to learn from the disappointment and plan for the future.

The Democratic Party cannot move toward the center Right, if it means ever to offer a reasonable alternative.

However, that does not mean that it should adopt Bernie Sanders Left Wing type progressivism, which, despite what some say, would never be accepted by voters at large as an alternative in the future.

The party needs to continue to promote mainstream progressivism and liberalism, including labor rights, protection of the environment, and enforcement of basic civil rights for the growing Latino minority, African Americans, Asian Americans, gays and lesbians, and women, along with promotion of more voter education as to the details and effects of government policies.

The idea that Latino males, young people, and white women would think of Donald Trump as the better alternative is shocking, so therefore the need for greater voter education is essential.

And as the Democrats ponder their future, it is blessed with a multitude of qualified Presidential contenders!

This includes the following Governors:

Gavin Newsom, California
Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania
Wes Moore, Maryland
Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan
Andy Beshear, Kentucky
J D Pritzker, Illinois
Jared Polis, Colorado
Tim Walz, Minnesota
Josh Stein, North Carolina

Additionally, there are US Senators in the mix, including

Christoper Murphy, Connecticut
Jon Ossoff, Georgia
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Cory Booker, New Jersey

Also, present Transportation Secretary and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is rumored to be planning to run for Michigan Governor, to succeed Gretchen Whitmer, who is term limited from running for reelection in 2026.

To assume that Donald Trump and his party will be able to keep public opinion on his side over the next four years is failing to realize that it is certain there will be a major negative reaction to the agenda that is now being imposed on America by aggressive and extreme Right wing forces!

Democrats must be optimistic and willing to work hard for the future of common decency and empathy as part of American principles!

Realignment Seems To Have Occurred, But It May Not Last Past Next Presidential Election!

admin 31 Comments

The Democratic Party has received a heavy rebuke from voters, who once could be counted upon to remain in support of the party.

It is mind boggling that 46 percent of Latinos, 39 percent of Asian Americans, 20 percent of African Americans, and working class Whites abandoned the party that promoted civil rights and social justice reforms over the 90 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the 1930s.

But their “abandonment” is more centered around the key issue of the economy, the reality that the COVID 19 Pandemic created high inflation which finally, but belatedly, has been overcome in recent months.

Overall, the economy has done well, but since people think first about the issue of groceries, gas, and other costs that had been mounting, they decided to avoid dealing with the other issues so important out there, such as survival of democracy, abortion rights, and foreign policy concerns.

The inability of Joe Biden to deal with the problem of immigration at the border also was effectively used by Republicans, along with creating the false issue of transgender rights.

Donald Trump is not going to keep the support of the groups who voted for him, once they realize he is only concerned about corporations and the wealthy, and is on the road to another massive tax cut, adding trillions to the national debt, and imposing tariffs that will raise the cost of living for the people who decided to support him.

Donald Trump is assured to antagonize and alienate groups that will realize they have been taken advantage of, and as long as the Democratic Party comes up with new proposals and plans and have a dynamic primary season for the 2028 Presidential nomination, the party will be able to retrieve what they have lost!

“The October Surprise” Is With Us! Final Projection On Electoral Vote Result On November 5!

admin 19 Comments

“The October Surprise”, the argument that an event in October has influenced Presidential elections, has occurred again, and this time, it seems clear that it will destroy the Donald Trump campaign!

Not only the horrendous, despicable “joke” by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Ricans at the Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, but many of the other speakers who ranted and raved against African Americans and Jews, and promoted a white supremacy America with their hatred, all created what will bring down Donald Trump a week from today!

Clearly, the Republican Party is advocating a white Christian supremacist party and future, and Americans who do not fit into that mold can clearly see the threats and the danger ahead.

So watch as this disaster, that did not have to be, but demonstrates what Donald Trump is all about, will lead to his defeat, and likely by a bigger margin than one might think!

This blogger is now going out on a limb that Kamala Harris will carry the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada, and the second district of Nebraska, and will have 309 electoral votes to Trump’s 229 electoral votes. The only “swing state” Trump will win is Arizona!

And Harris will have a bigger popular vote margin than Joe Biden’s 7 million vote lead in 2020!

Commentary by readers is welcome on this projection, and we shall see how accurate I am!

Irrational For Any Female, Black, Or Latino To Support Trump!

admin 8 Comments

With less than three weeks to Election Day, and early voting having begun, including this author and blogger having voted by mail already, one has to wonder how any female, black, or Latino American could find justification to vote for Donald Trump.

Voting is a complex act, as clearly, no candidate for any public office has a “perfect” record, and one can disagree with some views or policies of any candidate for public office.

But anyone following public affairs, and who has reasoning powers, would have to overlook reality to vote for Donald Trump in 2024.

This is particularly the case for females, African Americans, and Hispanic-Latino Americans.

The fact that Trump appointed three Supreme Court Justices who brought about the end of abortion rights guarantee should be enough information for all women except the extreme anti abortionists, who do not care about the welfare and lives of pregnant women.

The fact that Trump has been openly racist throughout his life, not just in his Presidency, should convince African Americans that he has no regard or respect for African Americans and Hispanic-Latino Americans.

For the latter to allow the immigration issue to overcome the history of Trump’s lack of concern for immigrant families trying to escape oppression, violence and bloodshed in their home countries, and to separate children from their families, as occurred in the Trump Presidency, is shocking.

Trump’s bizarre behavior of swaying and dancing at a rally, truly erratic behavior;

his constant threats to go after “internal enemies” who he thinks are more dangerous than Russia or China;

and his obsession with tariffs and with deportation of more than ten million migrants, which all would undermine the American economy, and particularly the agriculture industry

should be enough to convince any rational voter who is female, black or Latino, along with everyone else, that they must unite around Kamala Harris, who has been backed by massive numbers of conservatives and Republicans who see Trump as a threat and disaster for the nation!