“Protests are meant to be the voices of the unheard. Yet these protests are the voices of those who never shut up.” — Unnamed Observer of No Kings, reported by Roger Kimball
Mamdani’s ersatz grin throughout last week’s final debate was a study in composure. Petard after petard burst around him, yet the smile never faltered. As his rivals exposed the fissures and falsehoods in his policies, the grin remained fixed - less an expression than a mask. It was the smile of a man fully aware that his words are lies, and utterly indifferent to that fact, for he knows it no longer matters.
It called to mind the grim theater of the Supreme Soviet. There, too, Stalin’s sickening smile never wavered as he presided over “special sessions,” announcing new initiatives destined to be paid for in the blood of millions. The resemblance is not in scale, of course, but in spirit - that cold, unblinking confidence of power divorced from truth.
Maybe he believes (rightly) that many Americans are gullible and who think their Govt will always come to rescue them from their stupidity when romanticizing about everything free & easy...Somewhere over the rainbow...
Still, a jihadist mayor for the city of 9/11 just 24 years ago certainly isn't a sublime commentary for our species.
More smirk than smile. Plastered doesn't go far enough. It's as if it was chiseled in stone. The expression is more droid like than human. But the emotional minions love a nice smile, even when it fronts a snake.
"Zohran Mamdani wants more of that, affordability-by-decree, which means he will for sure get less affordable housing and more property that no one wants to take care of — which is what slums are."
The thing is, those who seek to impose their ruinous vision upon us do not have to live with, or in, the consequences of their actions. Indeed, they profit from it.
He has to convince the people of New York that living in slums is the best it gets. There is no way to inspire people to maintaining housing will ever happen. Chicago’s experiments with subsidized housing should be a warning bell for what happens to low income free housing. It was a total failure. Why? It starts with the fact that the people do not even know what housing maintenance means, and most are not motivated anyway. The gangs invade the concentration of hopelessness and thus they become the center for crime and drugs.
The answer to poverty? Get industry going back into the USA and screw East Asia. The core of American industry must move into the cities and train the people to work. To earn their way. Also, let the PTB exit the cities that are thumbing their nose at the middle class, and move to Texas or Florida or surprise, Phoenix.
Good one. IMHO, actions speak louder than words, and Bernie lives better than the majority of Americans with millions in his bank account, and three nice homes to choose where to live, so despite his words of redistributing the wealth, how much of his own wealth does he redistribute? He is certainly living the lifestyle of a capitalist.
Bernie lives like a king, yet he leads the "No Kings" movement. Apparently nobody in the Left cares enough to stop and say, "Hey, wait a minute! How is a socialist rich?" Then again, years ago a lefty colleague was ranting about "the rich" by ticking off a few wealthy Republicans. I asked her, "What about Buffett, Zuckerberg, Doomberg, Bezos...?" "Oh they're okay. They're OUR billionaires!" And that's probably the readon these people don't see their hypocrisy and stupidity.
Why can’t the left can’t see who the real kings are in America - the political class of career politicians (dems and GOP – “uniparty”) and Joe Biden is the poster child of everything that is wrong with America’s phony politics. A career politician, he enriched himself and his wicked family with riches no common American could afford, like two-multi-million-dollar mansions, luxury cars, a luxurious lifestyle: https://lizlasorte.substack.com/p/no-more-kings?r=76q58
Universal Health care would be a start. It would insure that even the crowd on this site would not lose their house and savings if hit by a medical crisis.
Oh and before you say it:
You must be a US Citizen to enroll in Medicare, Medicaid, or ACA plans. It has always been that way and will stay that way.
The fact that nobody in any kind of a position of influence doesn't look at a former barista making a congressional wage of $170K per year suddenly becoming a millionaire and question that speaks volumes to the filth and rot that is America's political system.
He’s a corrupted phony crook, just like virtually every member of Congress. Never really had a real job, in the real world. You can get that much wealth from a Congressional paycheck. Numbers don’t lie.
Think it will dawn on the long suffering Portlanders that all the chaos can be called off at a moment's notice whenever the politicians they elected deem it expedient? For those who suffered injury or property loss to the chaos, you can now make the case that the government itself is liable to you. They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons.
"For those who suffered injury or property loss to the chaos, you can now make the case that the government itself is liable to you. They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons."
"Think it will dawn on the long suffering Portlanders that all the chaos can be called off at a moment's notice whenever the politicians they elected deem it expedient?"
You don't think that's happened? See the problem is the "Mayor" was elected by Rank Choice voting so didn't win a majority and wasn't the favored candidate. He looks like a weakling and is. Six newly elected members of the new council are DSA. Since it was Rank Choice voting we ended up with Midwits or my preferred word, Retards.
"They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons."
How about: "can't stop it, haven't stopped it and will never stop it." That's what is currently happening here: Failure. Leadership vacuum.
The injured Portlanders and elsewhere will be demonized by the PTB to avoid having to have liability for the Leftist actions. Controlling the judiciary, which they have concentrated on, is crucial.
To the long suffering city folks, if you can, get out.
For one, I think the majority have a terminal case of TDS, and you mix in Green New Deal, men can have babies, AGW, etc., and essentially one ends up with planned obsolescence.
Yes, it is. My guess is that the Feds have been here for months observing things and know who all the players are. Why wouldn't they?
Why wouldn't they be worried about a weak state, largely rural, with no military bases run by an unpopular governor who was elected with shady campaign financing?
Oregon is 400 miles of U.S. border without any protection.
It's about the Cartel activity. It's about city and state leadership allowing it.
I just read up on it. What do you do when a larger slate does not satisfy a majority vote? Force people out on the bottom until someone gets a majority vote. What if when even with two, the vote is tied? Ha, some states use a coin toss.
The problem remains though, when a city’s population becomes dependent on the government, ie they are gimmied, they will always vote for the person that “promises” them freebies. That is the real problem everywhere, the Left promises them things for no effort, the Right says they want them to earn their way. Now fit that into our current situation in the country. Trump is elected by disillusioned Rust Belt voters who see through the Left’s bullshit.
NYC is not there yet, but give Mamdani two years, NYC will vote in Conservatives as they figure out what a joke he is.
New York will be fine, just as it has been under Bloomberg, DeBlazio, and the communist cop. That city weathers all of the insanity with flying colors. Still home to millions and still a major tourist attraction.
Has London fallen? My sisters just took a trip to London and spent 7 days viewing the sites and shopping in the expensive stores. They had a great time.
You're right. I'm not in London. I don't really care about London. I know my sisters enjoyed London, but, they stayed in the touristy parts and didn't venture out into the residential areas.
Hard questions. Are we not complicit in our downfall if all we do is analyze the problem endlessly? Is it enough to simply serve as documentarians of our demise? Does anyone really believe that if someone comes up with the optimum "magic words" in an internet posting, the light bulb will go off and the masses with suddenly get wise to our dilemma? Is there a better use of our brain power, such as devising tangible solutions? Can we talk (or read) our way out of the mess we're in? We do we get off the couch and reclaim our agency?
If we simply stay on the sidelines, have we actually earned any future redemption?
We stand on the shoulders of evolutionary survivors. They didn't just talk their way into the future.
Great questions. The problems are widespread. I recommend viewing the new documentary An Inconvenient Study which just won best in festival at the Malibu Film festival and can be streamed free at Aninconvenientstudy.com.
This is relevant in that our healthcare system is producing scores of disabled kids. In addition, our schools are turning out massive numbers of students below basic proficiency in math and reading. These issues alone can crash our society and economy in the future. Parents have some power in this area and should look for ways to use it.
"Is there a better use of our brain power, such as devising tangible solutions?" ~ TomA
Devising tangible solutions isn't possible until there is an honest objective assessment. It is my belief that the current state of affairs is a result of the current format for life being played-out, and our representatives gaming the system to perfection.
This isn't Trump's fault, and in order for him to be able to modify and/or fix the situation, he needs to gain the power to do so. In order to overcome the clusterfuck that representatives gaming the system to perfection have created, Trump will have to out game them to gain power.
And Minneapolis has their own version of an Islamo-communist running for mayor there too, just to put a cherry on top of the massive corruption and incompetence riddled throughout that sorry excuse for a state.
God please have mercy on this country and wake the people the f-up or we’re doomed.
Trumpian halts to uncontrolled immigration is a start. Finish the wall and enforce the law, the people rising in economic power will turn conservative to protect themselves from the government. The Dems know it.
Crazy that things so obviously true - like the idiocy of this guy being elected to the mayorship of the most powerful city in the world - are simply ignored by the propagandized masses.
Completely ludicrous that this slate of candidates to run this city is the choice NYC has.
The shit show that is NYC politics has gotten to a point even a NY native and cynic like me could never have imagined. Looks like this is going to be yet another case of FAFO in the extreme.
However, it should be well noted that Hamas Mandami did not get where he is on his own merits or promises. He was cheated into office via the odious Ranked Choice Voting and many millions from his Hamas/Demo-Marxist/Commie/Left Wing/Satanic Overlords who are behind the young mujahideen candidate.
Even so, it may not be enough - look at what happened with President Trump. I am a big supporter of Curtis Sliwa although James doesn't think too much of him. I lived in Manhattan during the 1970s and I know how horrible the crime situation can be. Curtis is the ONLY candidate who has the ability to do something about the criminals that are terrorizing the populace.
It's really too bad that the phony Republicans and conservatives have turned on him with their back stabbing support of Killer Cuomo. What a sick joke! Better Hamas Mandami than that bastard who single handedly just about destroyed our state with cashless bail BS and the Climate Protection Act (NY's Green New Deal ) which caused our electric costs to skyrocket.
In any event, we sure do live in interesting times. (kind of like the old Chinese curse)
Excellent explanation of how the Commie Mamdani will DESTROY NYC with NO KNOWLEDGE of running a corporation,(which NYC IS)! Welcome in a State of Communism! Businesses will close, the wealthy will eventually leave and the less fortunate will become more less fortunate and DEPEND on the government to support them! That’s the Communist Way.
"...state and local politicians who interfere with ICE operations could face arrest and prosecution for criminal conspiracy."
They've known this and ignored it.
What changed is their perspective of their financial dealings over the past couple of decades - whether self-identified or mentioned by the Feds through "channels". You can be certain that the FBI (et al) team digging into Antifa funding streams has a black book on them now.
They cannot afford to ignore the law lest they become the Latesha James of the Left Coast.
I get that sense that they have been given a memo, and looked at what is happening to some of their cohorts. The message should be clear though: you are not immune anymore and we are coming after you. Seems simple enough, y’know in a primal mammalian kinda way.
Won’t this be exciting! NYC is poised to elect a child mayor, whose administration is likely to resemble an adult play date 😂😂😂 Mami the Commie apparently believes that his election will give him the power 💪 to overcome well established laws of economics, as he makes everything free and freezes rents. Combine that with the release of thousands of criminals from Rikers and the possible outcomes are unlimited, though none are particularly appealing. If this experience doesn’t lead the majority to take the red pill 💊, NYC will soon resemble Baltimore, Chicago or (pick your favorite failed blue city). Fasten your seat belts - this ride will be bumpy 🐎
How about "Mami the Commie" just figures on completing the demolition that the Biden administration started. Which ever way it goes, it will be a no lose proposition for "Mami the Commie".
But you will have free buses! Problem is some idiots installed bike lanes on all the major thoroughfares so the humongous buses now frequently share a single lane with cars and delivery trucks, moving at about one mile per hour.
The insanity of the left is just as rampant outside of NYC. The frontrunner for the Dem candidate for the US Senate in Maine is a self-proclaimed communist who sports a deaths head Nazi tattoo on his chest and provides weapons training to Antifa.
Even crazier, he is campaigning as a working class fisherman, but neglects to reference that he went to prep school at Hotchkiss and his father was a corporate lawyer, etc. etc.
I'm not surprised that people who never knew NYC after Lindsay are for Mamdani. Young people gonna be hot and dumb for freebies. What surprises me is my demographic, which knew it all too well. Why don't they just sit on their couches and watch Taxi Driver and Serpico instead of trying to live those movies again?
Ms. Polly, I remember reading this in some news magazine after Lindsay left office. (do I remember correctly that he was a liberal R? ) It was reported that on becoming mayor, Lindsay said he could solve all of the problems of NYC if only he had double the budget. Apparently when he left office his budget was more than 2X what it was when he arrived but.....none of the issues of importance were close to being solved. As you are suggesting the ones after Lindsay were worse than Nero governing Rome.
Lindsay was a liberal R, correct, with some patrician Kennedy-esque glam. During his progressive years, crime and welfare use both went up something like 250%. It took the city decades — until Giuliani, really — to repair the damage he did and get back to something like normal.
It’s astonishing how many of you show up here with tragedy-of-the-commons panic, moral grandstanding, but zero interest in actual evidence or nuance.
Doctor Boom, you kick off with “At some point, you have to let people live with the consequences of their choices…” and then declare Gotham’s been flirting with “fascism/socialism” and is now going “full‑commie.” Bold. Lazy. That’s not analysis — it’s apocalypse porn dressed as insight. Where’s your breakdown? Where’s your evidence? Just waving “full communism” around doesn’t make it a point.
Occam, muttering about progressives “not seeing 2nd and 3rd order consequences” and predicting NYC’s doom… you offer zero specifics, no causal chain, just ominous murmurs. Fear-mongering without follow-through isn’t critique — it’s performance art.
JohnAZ, your “Ult‑Left…population replacement by the Deep State” line is straight from the conspiracy factory. Throwing “replacement” and “Deep State” around doesn’t equal analysis — it equals absurdity. Cities evolving demographically ≠ globalist plot. The leap from “I dislike urban policies” to “massive conspiracy” is hilarious if it weren’t sad.
Canker puss, you ask “But where are the consequences?” and hit the nail on the head. The hysteria machine churns nonstop, yet your promised NYC collapse never materializes. Hint: saying “it’s about to implode” for a decade doesn’t make it true.
Beth Nicolaides, pivoting to cultural shaming — Canadians, “maple-leaf backpackers,” “timorous lefties with Subarus and Nina Totenbags” — is peak deflection. You can’t argue substance, so you mock the people. Classic.
Here’s the truth: you’re not engaging with policy. You’re performing outrage. You fling historical analogies and fear like confetti, hoping for impact. Meanwhile, NYC hums along: businesses open, people live, tourism happens. Your stove never lights.
If you really cared about the city, you’d talk housing, transit, municipal finance — real-world things. But you don’t. You’re here for the spectacle. The panic. Keep seeing masks and “mujahideen candidates” if it makes you feel smart. Reality doesn’t care.
Ms. Pam---- while you accuse a lot of people of "performance art" ---- whatever that is---- and accuse people of not wanting to talk about specifics of policies or what will or what will not work, I fail to see you tell us anything about why you think that Mamdami policies will be so successful. Please feel free to tell us how rent control has worked great for people lucky enough to get rent controlled apartments as well as the investor who has his cold hard cash invested in a building that he/she cannot get a reasonable return on to keep up the bldg as well as fund additional investment to build new buildings. If rent control was such a winning policy and equitable to all parties, don't you think you would find investors and most US cities lining up in support.
Can you please show us an example of where socialist policies have been successful on a grand scale. Margaret Thatcher had the famous quip that socialism works fine until you run out of other peoples money. Seems this is quite true and unless I am mistaken NYC does chug along and seems to keep going in spite of all the dumb things they have done over the years but........I think you forget that the State of NY helps with funding and so does the US taxpayers. ( do you have a secret urge to have someone as sharp and forward thinking as Mayor Dinkins to return?) The only reason that residents of NYC do not leave in mass is that many of them have to stay until they can retire or are too stubborn to leave a sinking ship or......are part of the group feeding at the trough of gov't waste. Over the years NYC has lost millions of residents but most are replaced by illegal immigrants or others who think NYC is the place to make their fortune.
Please enlighten us with the great policies that the SOA plan to enact to make NYC a Nirvana on earth. Defund the police seems like a great idea as does no cash bail and what about the experiment that California did with making stealing legal as long as you only stole $950 or less. From what I understand the merchants there just loved the policy. Citizens started to realize that they were the ones funding this theft thru higher prices or........it created food deserts since most grocery stores operate on a very small margin and decided to shut down because they could not allow the theft to go on.
So.....Ms. Pam, please feel free to engage in intellectual debate on any of the wonderful socialist policies that you seem to agree with. I do not think you will find many of the people who comment frequently from being too shy to engage in real debate.
Ms. Pam---- generally in my discussions with libs/progs/socialists/communists or other left leaning people, they start their discussion with a statement that is not true and move on from there. You did not disappoint.
In no way shape or form did I frame my argument against rent control/housing policy as an argument for perfect economic returns for the person holding or investing the cash in rental properties. Typically most problems of cities and states and federal gov'ts are caused when dreamers who have never worked in private industry or people running for office try to change the rules of life that all humans should know from a very early age------ there is no free lunch. For example, people running for election think their policies only affect the exact thing that they are offering in order to effectively buy votes. For example, mostly Dem/Marxists but sometimes Rs as will for example offer higher welfare payments or sanctuary city status to try to cuddle up to a portion of the population that is always trying to get more out of other peoples pockets thru the force of gov't. Those policies then cause other issues like massive migration to the city or state offering them. When populations increase for the wrong reasons, it causes other things to happen------- millions of people come to NY because welfare is high, most people can get it without proving they are actually looking for a job and.......with crazy gov't regs on how and where people can either rent their property or build new rental properties, the increase in population overwhelms the supply of available housing. Generally the root of most problems can be traced back to stupid things the gov't does because the officials think they need to DO SOMETHING---- in order to justify some imagined inequity or injustice and.....they make the situation worse rather than better. In a true free market----which is non existent in NY) people are lured to NYC by higher welfare and gov't protection of illegal aliens and......these millions of people make it impossible for average people to find suitable housing. I am not for favoring either the person offering to rent their apartments/homes/rooms or the person trying to find a place to live. If apartments are over built and investors end up losing money-----not my fault----so the investors should have done their homework better and nobody is crying for them. Same with someone deciding to move to NYC and then are shocked by the high rents. Move somewhere else or do not move to NYC. Please do not compare the policies of the Euros since we are not that far down the socialist path, at least yet and they have their own set of issues and if you care for them so much, maybe you should move their rather than try to implement their failed policies here. Remember, there is no free lunch. I am not sure why you think the answer to failed gov't policies are more gov't policies. We have too many bureaucrats already, we do not need more trying to rob Peter and give it to Paul. Why do some people always think they have the right to take other peoples money and give it to someone else who has not worked for it ?
Mr. Neff, let’s start with your framing: that rent control or other progressive housing policies are either a universal win or a catastrophic failure for investors. This is a false binary. Policy does not exist to maximize the profits of landlords; it exists to secure the rights and lives of residents. The question is not whether an individual building yields a perfect return — it’s whether a city can provide affordable, stable housing at scale.
Mamdani’s policies are aimed at exactly that: keeping housing accessible for people who live and work in the city. New York has decades of experience showing that unregulated markets produce displacement, instability, and long-term inequity. Rent control, tenant protections, and inclusionary zoning do not claim perfection; they claim stability in a system otherwise dominated by speculation and profit extraction. That stability allows communities to survive, children to attend neighborhood schools, and working-class families to stay in the neighborhoods where they contribute.
You ask why “investors and most U.S. cities” don’t line up for these policies. Perhaps because profit is easy to measure and human life is harder. Cities that prioritize equitable housing — Berlin, Vienna, and Copenhagen among them — pair tenant protections with strategic investment, often through public housing development, subsidized mortgages, and regulatory frameworks that maintain affordability. These cities are not utopias, but they demonstrate that it is possible to provide housing security without abandoning investment entirely.
The real test is not whether every building makes a perfect return, but whether a city survives without hollowing out its population. On that measure, policies like Mamdani’s are not speculative fantasies; they are responses to decades of neglect, displacement, and inequality.
All of those things have been tried in Berlin and elsewhere here in Great Reset land, Agent Dickie. I actually live over here and experience first hand just how bad large German cities are.
Berlin, in specific, is more or less unlivable, unless you are ok with all of the things you listed here.
There is no such thing as true housing security in a Western country, particularly when those needing security don't work or don't have a legitimate claim to benefits on offer when not working.
however, NYC really wants a dictator "on their side"
I am just very glad I do not live near NY. If this guy really wins this, it will either be very entertaining, or it will be nothing. Utterances from the great commie Oblamer, stolen from commie Deval Patrick, "words just words"
I just can not imagine any earth shattering change going on. NY will just have a skinny little punk for a mayor.
You make a point. How can the people protest against “No Kings” and then vote in the ultimate King, a Commie dictator in Muslim clothing? Only in America?
Ms. Rosemary-----you missed a word. Between the words little and punk, please insert the word ignorant. He is so ignorant that he does not know what he does not know.
Kind of similar to me trying to run an nuclear power plant.
I was trained to run Nuclear Reactors by the Navy in 1976, and worked in Nuclear plants all my life. I think this site is a bunch of selfish, ignorant, mouth breathers.
Mr. Smith, maybe I am misreading your intent but.....it certainly appears that you just demeaned the majority of people who are on this site as ignorant and selfish-----not sure how mouth breathers is supposed to equate to an IQ------seems to indicate a sinus issue that has not be properly addressed but ???
Bully for you that you learned to run a small nuclear plant while in the Navy but if you really did mean to demean the majority of people on this site, you can take your comment and put it where the sun does not shine. It appears you have an overly inflated view of yourself. Just because I do not happen to know how to run a nuclear plant, it does not mean that I do not have a whole host of useful skills that have been quite profitable for me to use over the last 60 or so years.
I tried to engage with commenters on this site for the last couple days and came up with that conclusion. I've been called a many names but very few actual reasoned responses.
According to MAGA I am a Terrorist Commie just for being a Democrat. I am a nearly 70 Y.O. Navy submarine veteran, and a Grandfather to 5, married for 45 years. Even your comment I was responding to was kinda lame.
Ron, nuclear power plants have toilets for the operators. Those toilets must be cleaned regularly. Ask Mr. Smith. He'll tell you his secret technique. Also the proper way to empty a nuclear plant trashcan.
From my home in Portland I recall my time living north NYC for about 3.5 years in the late 80's early 90's. It was the end of Koch and the beginning of Dinkins. A bad mayor can make a difference and Dinkins sure did. The city went to shit in no time and why Rudy Giuliani became mayor.
Back here in Portland the city is suffering greatly with the Rank Choice Voting results. We ended up with an inept city council consisting of the C average crowd and nearly half members of the DSA. Their lack of intellect has been proven in their inability to do anything except fight. Too stupid to know how stupid they are. They even thought of bringing in a consultant.
Last week they passed an ordinance creating a law that prohibits city employees from helping federal immigration authorities to enforce immigration laws, except when required by law.
There is a continual drum beat that this is about some poor immigrant who didn't have their papers in order and the Feds are "violent." Meanwhile 8 Mexican cartel members (what news reports said) were arrested breaking into a high-end vacation home near Mt. Hood and stealing $120k of property.
See the Cartels are operating here freely. Drug use is rampant because there is no one taking it off the streets (see https://truthonthestreets.substack.com/) and human trafficking is part of all of this as well.
We ARE the weak link on a huge part of the West Coast of the United States. Think of it in war game terms if it doesn't make sense.
Our leadership is complicit and Tina Kotek should be arrested.
Mamdani’s ersatz grin throughout last week’s final debate was a study in composure. Petard after petard burst around him, yet the smile never faltered. As his rivals exposed the fissures and falsehoods in his policies, the grin remained fixed - less an expression than a mask. It was the smile of a man fully aware that his words are lies, and utterly indifferent to that fact, for he knows it no longer matters.
It called to mind the grim theater of the Supreme Soviet. There, too, Stalin’s sickening smile never wavered as he presided over “special sessions,” announcing new initiatives destined to be paid for in the blood of millions. The resemblance is not in scale, of course, but in spirit - that cold, unblinking confidence of power divorced from truth.
Gavin Newsom has the same lying smile
Maybe he believes (rightly) that many Americans are gullible and who think their Govt will always come to rescue them from their stupidity when romanticizing about everything free & easy...Somewhere over the rainbow...
Still, a jihadist mayor for the city of 9/11 just 24 years ago certainly isn't a sublime commentary for our species.
More smirk than smile. Plastered doesn't go far enough. It's as if it was chiseled in stone. The expression is more droid like than human. But the emotional minions love a nice smile, even when it fronts a snake.
"Zohran Mamdani wants more of that, affordability-by-decree, which means he will for sure get less affordable housing and more property that no one wants to take care of — which is what slums are."
The thing is, those who seek to impose their ruinous vision upon us do not have to live with, or in, the consequences of their actions. Indeed, they profit from it.
He has to convince the people of New York that living in slums is the best it gets. There is no way to inspire people to maintaining housing will ever happen. Chicago’s experiments with subsidized housing should be a warning bell for what happens to low income free housing. It was a total failure. Why? It starts with the fact that the people do not even know what housing maintenance means, and most are not motivated anyway. The gangs invade the concentration of hopelessness and thus they become the center for crime and drugs.
The answer to poverty? Get industry going back into the USA and screw East Asia. The core of American industry must move into the cities and train the people to work. To earn their way. Also, let the PTB exit the cities that are thumbing their nose at the middle class, and move to Texas or Florida or surprise, Phoenix.
Laughter is the best medicine when a “democratic” socialist walks into a bar: https://lizlasorte.substack.com/p/a-democratic-socialist-walks-into?r=76q58
"You can make a capitalist poor and they’ll still believe in Capitalism.
But if you make a socialist rich, you have a new capitalist."
Is Bernie a capitalist?
Good one. IMHO, actions speak louder than words, and Bernie lives better than the majority of Americans with millions in his bank account, and three nice homes to choose where to live, so despite his words of redistributing the wealth, how much of his own wealth does he redistribute? He is certainly living the lifestyle of a capitalist.
There was wealth redistribution, resulting in a good portion 'redistributed' in his direction.
Good point!
Bernie lives like a king, yet he leads the "No Kings" movement. Apparently nobody in the Left cares enough to stop and say, "Hey, wait a minute! How is a socialist rich?" Then again, years ago a lefty colleague was ranting about "the rich" by ticking off a few wealthy Republicans. I asked her, "What about Buffett, Zuckerberg, Doomberg, Bezos...?" "Oh they're okay. They're OUR billionaires!" And that's probably the readon these people don't see their hypocrisy and stupidity.
Exactly!
Why can’t the left can’t see who the real kings are in America - the political class of career politicians (dems and GOP – “uniparty”) and Joe Biden is the poster child of everything that is wrong with America’s phony politics. A career politician, he enriched himself and his wicked family with riches no common American could afford, like two-multi-million-dollar mansions, luxury cars, a luxurious lifestyle: https://lizlasorte.substack.com/p/no-more-kings?r=76q58
They are too busy believing their lot is life is substantiated by the stealing of capital from the rich? They are Democrats.
The big problem for the USA is they have no clue what to do with the re-distributed capital.
Yes, the rich are too rich by far. We need a non-Marxist socialism to deal with this, not just more of your burn and loot Capitalism.
Universal Health care would be a start. It would insure that even the crowd on this site would not lose their house and savings if hit by a medical crisis.
Oh and before you say it:
You must be a US Citizen to enroll in Medicare, Medicaid, or ACA plans. It has always been that way and will stay that way.
After AOC had become a millionaire, she went to a ball wearing her "Eat the rich" gown.
The fact that nobody in any kind of a position of influence doesn't look at a former barista making a congressional wage of $170K per year suddenly becoming a millionaire and question that speaks volumes to the filth and rot that is America's political system.
He’s a corrupted phony crook, just like virtually every member of Congress. Never really had a real job, in the real world. You can get that much wealth from a Congressional paycheck. Numbers don’t lie.
Word.
Up.
Nope, Bernie is an insane Leftist that wants the presidency in a country whose heart is still capitalistic. He is a power monger, period.
Well, that explains it. I was thinking he was just a fraud.
He has been blocked by his own party for twenty years from national levels. Now we have Bernie, Mamdani and AOC garnering national predominance.
???? Oh yeah, the communist media!!!!!!
Perhaps that will take the heat off those Pam Bondi has penciled in her calendar?
People are in love with chains, especially the "mind forged manacles" (Blake).
Think it will dawn on the long suffering Portlanders that all the chaos can be called off at a moment's notice whenever the politicians they elected deem it expedient? For those who suffered injury or property loss to the chaos, you can now make the case that the government itself is liable to you. They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons.
"For those who suffered injury or property loss to the chaos, you can now make the case that the government itself is liable to you. They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons."
Wow you are describing Jan 6th 2021!
"Think it will dawn on the long suffering Portlanders that all the chaos can be called off at a moment's notice whenever the politicians they elected deem it expedient?"
You don't think that's happened? See the problem is the "Mayor" was elected by Rank Choice voting so didn't win a majority and wasn't the favored candidate. He looks like a weakling and is. Six newly elected members of the new council are DSA. Since it was Rank Choice voting we ended up with Midwits or my preferred word, Retards.
"They could have stopped it, had a duty to stop it, and did not, for their own self-serving and sociopathic reasons."
How about: "can't stop it, haven't stopped it and will never stop it." That's what is currently happening here: Failure. Leadership vacuum.
But those that suffered didn't have a Black Lives Matter Sign and/or a Ukraine flag in their front yard.
The injured Portlanders and elsewhere will be demonized by the PTB to avoid having to have liability for the Leftist actions. Controlling the judiciary, which they have concentrated on, is crucial.
To the long suffering city folks, if you can, get out.
I'm putting my chips on Trump employing his DC guard model throughout the nation; otherwise one will need to get out of the country.
"How about: "can't stop it, haven't stopped it and will never stop it." That's what is currently happening here: Failure. Leadership vacuum." ~ Deana
The cities are a magnet for gimmes, their votes elect people who insist on giving them freebies to hold power. Simple as that.
My thoughts are that Portland is different.
For one, I think the majority have a terminal case of TDS, and you mix in Green New Deal, men can have babies, AGW, etc., and essentially one ends up with planned obsolescence.
Yes, it is. My guess is that the Feds have been here for months observing things and know who all the players are. Why wouldn't they?
Why wouldn't they be worried about a weak state, largely rural, with no military bases run by an unpopular governor who was elected with shady campaign financing?
Oregon is 400 miles of U.S. border without any protection.
It's about the Cartel activity. It's about city and state leadership allowing it.
John, understand with Rank Choice Voting you can't elect your way out of it. Do you understand how it works?
I just read up on it. What do you do when a larger slate does not satisfy a majority vote? Force people out on the bottom until someone gets a majority vote. What if when even with two, the vote is tied? Ha, some states use a coin toss.
The problem remains though, when a city’s population becomes dependent on the government, ie they are gimmied, they will always vote for the person that “promises” them freebies. That is the real problem everywhere, the Left promises them things for no effort, the Right says they want them to earn their way. Now fit that into our current situation in the country. Trump is elected by disillusioned Rust Belt voters who see through the Left’s bullshit.
NYC is not there yet, but give Mamdani two years, NYC will vote in Conservatives as they figure out what a joke he is.
May God have mercy on the good and decent residents of NYC.
They are a minority.
New York will be fine, just as it has been under Bloomberg, DeBlazio, and the communist cop. That city weathers all of the insanity with flying colors. Still home to millions and still a major tourist attraction.
I'm sure they said that about London, too.
Has London fallen? My sisters just took a trip to London and spent 7 days viewing the sites and shopping in the expensive stores. They had a great time.
You should read more. Clearly you have no idea what's going on in England.
You're right. I'm not in London. I don't really care about London. I know my sisters enjoyed London, but, they stayed in the touristy parts and didn't venture out into the residential areas.
So, educate me. What's going on in London?
Hard questions. Are we not complicit in our downfall if all we do is analyze the problem endlessly? Is it enough to simply serve as documentarians of our demise? Does anyone really believe that if someone comes up with the optimum "magic words" in an internet posting, the light bulb will go off and the masses with suddenly get wise to our dilemma? Is there a better use of our brain power, such as devising tangible solutions? Can we talk (or read) our way out of the mess we're in? We do we get off the couch and reclaim our agency?
If we simply stay on the sidelines, have we actually earned any future redemption?
We stand on the shoulders of evolutionary survivors. They didn't just talk their way into the future.
People in Illinois are reclaiming their agency by leaving, same with businesses. Soft secession is growing.
The Civil War grows
Great questions. The problems are widespread. I recommend viewing the new documentary An Inconvenient Study which just won best in festival at the Malibu Film festival and can be streamed free at Aninconvenientstudy.com.
This is relevant in that our healthcare system is producing scores of disabled kids. In addition, our schools are turning out massive numbers of students below basic proficiency in math and reading. These issues alone can crash our society and economy in the future. Parents have some power in this area and should look for ways to use it.
"Is there a better use of our brain power, such as devising tangible solutions?" ~ TomA
Devising tangible solutions isn't possible until there is an honest objective assessment. It is my belief that the current state of affairs is a result of the current format for life being played-out, and our representatives gaming the system to perfection.
This isn't Trump's fault, and in order for him to be able to modify and/or fix the situation, he needs to gain the power to do so. In order to overcome the clusterfuck that representatives gaming the system to perfection have created, Trump will have to out game them to gain power.
If you want to do something to restore an honest objective assessment, so that there are consequences for a dishonest MSM, then how about offering your suggestions here: https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-matrix-abides/comment/169448055
And Minneapolis has their own version of an Islamo-communist running for mayor there too, just to put a cherry on top of the massive corruption and incompetence riddled throughout that sorry excuse for a state.
God please have mercy on this country and wake the people the f-up or we’re doomed.
Trumpian halts to uncontrolled immigration is a start. Finish the wall and enforce the law, the people rising in economic power will turn conservative to protect themselves from the government. The Dems know it.
Crazy that things so obviously true - like the idiocy of this guy being elected to the mayorship of the most powerful city in the world - are simply ignored by the propagandized masses.
Completely ludicrous that this slate of candidates to run this city is the choice NYC has.
Clown world, indeed.
The shit show that is NYC politics has gotten to a point even a NY native and cynic like me could never have imagined. Looks like this is going to be yet another case of FAFO in the extreme.
However, it should be well noted that Hamas Mandami did not get where he is on his own merits or promises. He was cheated into office via the odious Ranked Choice Voting and many millions from his Hamas/Demo-Marxist/Commie/Left Wing/Satanic Overlords who are behind the young mujahideen candidate.
Even so, it may not be enough - look at what happened with President Trump. I am a big supporter of Curtis Sliwa although James doesn't think too much of him. I lived in Manhattan during the 1970s and I know how horrible the crime situation can be. Curtis is the ONLY candidate who has the ability to do something about the criminals that are terrorizing the populace.
It's really too bad that the phony Republicans and conservatives have turned on him with their back stabbing support of Killer Cuomo. What a sick joke! Better Hamas Mandami than that bastard who single handedly just about destroyed our state with cashless bail BS and the Climate Protection Act (NY's Green New Deal ) which caused our electric costs to skyrocket.
In any event, we sure do live in interesting times. (kind of like the old Chinese curse)
Ranked Choice Voting should be outlawed.
It's put the nail in the coffin of Portland - it's officially now the Portland City Clowncil.
So yeah, FAFO NYC.
Sliwa and the guardian angels believed that community vigilanteism was the answer to crime control.
These people want freebies for nothing, they want no part of responsibility.
Sliwa has 27 cats. A man who can be trusted in other words.
I trust him more than Mamdani at the moment.
😻😻😻
Excellent explanation of how the Commie Mamdani will DESTROY NYC with NO KNOWLEDGE of running a corporation,(which NYC IS)! Welcome in a State of Communism! Businesses will close, the wealthy will eventually leave and the less fortunate will become more less fortunate and DEPEND on the government to support them! That’s the Communist Way.
Sun Tzu several thousand years ago said it best: " An evil man will allow his country to burn to the ground, if it means HE can rule over the ashes."
And it is not just in NYC. It is in cities across the USA.
"...state and local politicians who interfere with ICE operations could face arrest and prosecution for criminal conspiracy."
They've known this and ignored it.
What changed is their perspective of their financial dealings over the past couple of decades - whether self-identified or mentioned by the Feds through "channels". You can be certain that the FBI (et al) team digging into Antifa funding streams has a black book on them now.
They cannot afford to ignore the law lest they become the Latesha James of the Left Coast.
I get that sense that they have been given a memo, and looked at what is happening to some of their cohorts. The message should be clear though: you are not immune anymore and we are coming after you. Seems simple enough, y’know in a primal mammalian kinda way.
Won’t this be exciting! NYC is poised to elect a child mayor, whose administration is likely to resemble an adult play date 😂😂😂 Mami the Commie apparently believes that his election will give him the power 💪 to overcome well established laws of economics, as he makes everything free and freezes rents. Combine that with the release of thousands of criminals from Rikers and the possible outcomes are unlimited, though none are particularly appealing. If this experience doesn’t lead the majority to take the red pill 💊, NYC will soon resemble Baltimore, Chicago or (pick your favorite failed blue city). Fasten your seat belts - this ride will be bumpy 🐎
How about "Mami the Commie" just figures on completing the demolition that the Biden administration started. Which ever way it goes, it will be a no lose proposition for "Mami the Commie".
It won't take long before the people are saying (Mamdamit!!!)
Ok that’s it for today: you won the internet with that one!!
Maybe, if they are stupid enough to believe his bullshit, they are stupid enough to put up with his lies.
Mami is either really stupid or the most evil of grifters. Is he a model for the AntiChrist?
Or maybe a soldier for the AntiChrist who Pope Leo says is already amongst us today.
He's not stupid.
But you will have free buses! Problem is some idiots installed bike lanes on all the major thoroughfares so the humongous buses now frequently share a single lane with cars and delivery trucks, moving at about one mile per hour.
The insanity of the left is just as rampant outside of NYC. The frontrunner for the Dem candidate for the US Senate in Maine is a self-proclaimed communist who sports a deaths head Nazi tattoo on his chest and provides weapons training to Antifa.
Even crazier, he is campaigning as a working class fisherman, but neglects to reference that he went to prep school at Hotchkiss and his father was a corporate lawyer, etc. etc.
Maine has been a lost cause for years….
I'm not surprised that people who never knew NYC after Lindsay are for Mamdani. Young people gonna be hot and dumb for freebies. What surprises me is my demographic, which knew it all too well. Why don't they just sit on their couches and watch Taxi Driver and Serpico instead of trying to live those movies again?
Ms. Polly, I remember reading this in some news magazine after Lindsay left office. (do I remember correctly that he was a liberal R? ) It was reported that on becoming mayor, Lindsay said he could solve all of the problems of NYC if only he had double the budget. Apparently when he left office his budget was more than 2X what it was when he arrived but.....none of the issues of importance were close to being solved. As you are suggesting the ones after Lindsay were worse than Nero governing Rome.
Lindsay was a liberal R, correct, with some patrician Kennedy-esque glam. During his progressive years, crime and welfare use both went up something like 250%. It took the city decades — until Giuliani, really — to repair the damage he did and get back to something like normal.
Fun fact. While in office Lindsay dated Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) and gave her crabs. No, not the seafood type
Yep.
It’s astonishing how many of you show up here with tragedy-of-the-commons panic, moral grandstanding, but zero interest in actual evidence or nuance.
Doctor Boom, you kick off with “At some point, you have to let people live with the consequences of their choices…” and then declare Gotham’s been flirting with “fascism/socialism” and is now going “full‑commie.” Bold. Lazy. That’s not analysis — it’s apocalypse porn dressed as insight. Where’s your breakdown? Where’s your evidence? Just waving “full communism” around doesn’t make it a point.
Occam, muttering about progressives “not seeing 2nd and 3rd order consequences” and predicting NYC’s doom… you offer zero specifics, no causal chain, just ominous murmurs. Fear-mongering without follow-through isn’t critique — it’s performance art.
JohnAZ, your “Ult‑Left…population replacement by the Deep State” line is straight from the conspiracy factory. Throwing “replacement” and “Deep State” around doesn’t equal analysis — it equals absurdity. Cities evolving demographically ≠ globalist plot. The leap from “I dislike urban policies” to “massive conspiracy” is hilarious if it weren’t sad.
Canker puss, you ask “But where are the consequences?” and hit the nail on the head. The hysteria machine churns nonstop, yet your promised NYC collapse never materializes. Hint: saying “it’s about to implode” for a decade doesn’t make it true.
Beth Nicolaides, pivoting to cultural shaming — Canadians, “maple-leaf backpackers,” “timorous lefties with Subarus and Nina Totenbags” — is peak deflection. You can’t argue substance, so you mock the people. Classic.
Here’s the truth: you’re not engaging with policy. You’re performing outrage. You fling historical analogies and fear like confetti, hoping for impact. Meanwhile, NYC hums along: businesses open, people live, tourism happens. Your stove never lights.
If you really cared about the city, you’d talk housing, transit, municipal finance — real-world things. But you don’t. You’re here for the spectacle. The panic. Keep seeing masks and “mujahideen candidates” if it makes you feel smart. Reality doesn’t care.
Agent Dickie has been dispatched to sow discord and try to flip the comments section.
Yawn.
Ms. Pam---- while you accuse a lot of people of "performance art" ---- whatever that is---- and accuse people of not wanting to talk about specifics of policies or what will or what will not work, I fail to see you tell us anything about why you think that Mamdami policies will be so successful. Please feel free to tell us how rent control has worked great for people lucky enough to get rent controlled apartments as well as the investor who has his cold hard cash invested in a building that he/she cannot get a reasonable return on to keep up the bldg as well as fund additional investment to build new buildings. If rent control was such a winning policy and equitable to all parties, don't you think you would find investors and most US cities lining up in support.
Can you please show us an example of where socialist policies have been successful on a grand scale. Margaret Thatcher had the famous quip that socialism works fine until you run out of other peoples money. Seems this is quite true and unless I am mistaken NYC does chug along and seems to keep going in spite of all the dumb things they have done over the years but........I think you forget that the State of NY helps with funding and so does the US taxpayers. ( do you have a secret urge to have someone as sharp and forward thinking as Mayor Dinkins to return?) The only reason that residents of NYC do not leave in mass is that many of them have to stay until they can retire or are too stubborn to leave a sinking ship or......are part of the group feeding at the trough of gov't waste. Over the years NYC has lost millions of residents but most are replaced by illegal immigrants or others who think NYC is the place to make their fortune.
Please enlighten us with the great policies that the SOA plan to enact to make NYC a Nirvana on earth. Defund the police seems like a great idea as does no cash bail and what about the experiment that California did with making stealing legal as long as you only stole $950 or less. From what I understand the merchants there just loved the policy. Citizens started to realize that they were the ones funding this theft thru higher prices or........it created food deserts since most grocery stores operate on a very small margin and decided to shut down because they could not allow the theft to go on.
So.....Ms. Pam, please feel free to engage in intellectual debate on any of the wonderful socialist policies that you seem to agree with. I do not think you will find many of the people who comment frequently from being too shy to engage in real debate.
Cheers
Ron
You must be new here. Every now and then, a carbon copy of Agent Dickie shows up, only to be flushed away like a lingering piece of fecal matter.
Ms. Pam---- generally in my discussions with libs/progs/socialists/communists or other left leaning people, they start their discussion with a statement that is not true and move on from there. You did not disappoint.
In no way shape or form did I frame my argument against rent control/housing policy as an argument for perfect economic returns for the person holding or investing the cash in rental properties. Typically most problems of cities and states and federal gov'ts are caused when dreamers who have never worked in private industry or people running for office try to change the rules of life that all humans should know from a very early age------ there is no free lunch. For example, people running for election think their policies only affect the exact thing that they are offering in order to effectively buy votes. For example, mostly Dem/Marxists but sometimes Rs as will for example offer higher welfare payments or sanctuary city status to try to cuddle up to a portion of the population that is always trying to get more out of other peoples pockets thru the force of gov't. Those policies then cause other issues like massive migration to the city or state offering them. When populations increase for the wrong reasons, it causes other things to happen------- millions of people come to NY because welfare is high, most people can get it without proving they are actually looking for a job and.......with crazy gov't regs on how and where people can either rent their property or build new rental properties, the increase in population overwhelms the supply of available housing. Generally the root of most problems can be traced back to stupid things the gov't does because the officials think they need to DO SOMETHING---- in order to justify some imagined inequity or injustice and.....they make the situation worse rather than better. In a true free market----which is non existent in NY) people are lured to NYC by higher welfare and gov't protection of illegal aliens and......these millions of people make it impossible for average people to find suitable housing. I am not for favoring either the person offering to rent their apartments/homes/rooms or the person trying to find a place to live. If apartments are over built and investors end up losing money-----not my fault----so the investors should have done their homework better and nobody is crying for them. Same with someone deciding to move to NYC and then are shocked by the high rents. Move somewhere else or do not move to NYC. Please do not compare the policies of the Euros since we are not that far down the socialist path, at least yet and they have their own set of issues and if you care for them so much, maybe you should move their rather than try to implement their failed policies here. Remember, there is no free lunch. I am not sure why you think the answer to failed gov't policies are more gov't policies. We have too many bureaucrats already, we do not need more trying to rob Peter and give it to Paul. Why do some people always think they have the right to take other peoples money and give it to someone else who has not worked for it ?
Mr. Neff, let’s start with your framing: that rent control or other progressive housing policies are either a universal win or a catastrophic failure for investors. This is a false binary. Policy does not exist to maximize the profits of landlords; it exists to secure the rights and lives of residents. The question is not whether an individual building yields a perfect return — it’s whether a city can provide affordable, stable housing at scale.
Mamdani’s policies are aimed at exactly that: keeping housing accessible for people who live and work in the city. New York has decades of experience showing that unregulated markets produce displacement, instability, and long-term inequity. Rent control, tenant protections, and inclusionary zoning do not claim perfection; they claim stability in a system otherwise dominated by speculation and profit extraction. That stability allows communities to survive, children to attend neighborhood schools, and working-class families to stay in the neighborhoods where they contribute.
You ask why “investors and most U.S. cities” don’t line up for these policies. Perhaps because profit is easy to measure and human life is harder. Cities that prioritize equitable housing — Berlin, Vienna, and Copenhagen among them — pair tenant protections with strategic investment, often through public housing development, subsidized mortgages, and regulatory frameworks that maintain affordability. These cities are not utopias, but they demonstrate that it is possible to provide housing security without abandoning investment entirely.
The real test is not whether every building makes a perfect return, but whether a city survives without hollowing out its population. On that measure, policies like Mamdani’s are not speculative fantasies; they are responses to decades of neglect, displacement, and inequality.
All of those things have been tried in Berlin and elsewhere here in Great Reset land, Agent Dickie. I actually live over here and experience first hand just how bad large German cities are.
Berlin, in specific, is more or less unlivable, unless you are ok with all of the things you listed here.
There is no such thing as true housing security in a Western country, particularly when those needing security don't work or don't have a legitimate claim to benefits on offer when not working.
"no kings!!!"
however, NYC really wants a dictator "on their side"
I am just very glad I do not live near NY. If this guy really wins this, it will either be very entertaining, or it will be nothing. Utterances from the great commie Oblamer, stolen from commie Deval Patrick, "words just words"
I just can not imagine any earth shattering change going on. NY will just have a skinny little punk for a mayor.
You make a point. How can the people protest against “No Kings” and then vote in the ultimate King, a Commie dictator in Muslim clothing? Only in America?
Most of us don't live in NYC.
Do you want a King?
Ms. Rosemary-----you missed a word. Between the words little and punk, please insert the word ignorant. He is so ignorant that he does not know what he does not know.
Kind of similar to me trying to run an nuclear power plant.
agree. He is really a dopey idiot
I was trained to run Nuclear Reactors by the Navy in 1976, and worked in Nuclear plants all my life. I think this site is a bunch of selfish, ignorant, mouth breathers.
I think this site has at least one selfish, ignorant, mouth breather.
FIFY
Mr. Smith, maybe I am misreading your intent but.....it certainly appears that you just demeaned the majority of people who are on this site as ignorant and selfish-----not sure how mouth breathers is supposed to equate to an IQ------seems to indicate a sinus issue that has not be properly addressed but ???
Bully for you that you learned to run a small nuclear plant while in the Navy but if you really did mean to demean the majority of people on this site, you can take your comment and put it where the sun does not shine. It appears you have an overly inflated view of yourself. Just because I do not happen to know how to run a nuclear plant, it does not mean that I do not have a whole host of useful skills that have been quite profitable for me to use over the last 60 or so years.
I tried to engage with commenters on this site for the last couple days and came up with that conclusion. I've been called a many names but very few actual reasoned responses.
According to MAGA I am a Terrorist Commie just for being a Democrat. I am a nearly 70 Y.O. Navy submarine veteran, and a Grandfather to 5, married for 45 years. Even your comment I was responding to was kinda lame.
Bye Bye
Ron, nuclear power plants have toilets for the operators. Those toilets must be cleaned regularly. Ask Mr. Smith. He'll tell you his secret technique. Also the proper way to empty a nuclear plant trashcan.
From my home in Portland I recall my time living north NYC for about 3.5 years in the late 80's early 90's. It was the end of Koch and the beginning of Dinkins. A bad mayor can make a difference and Dinkins sure did. The city went to shit in no time and why Rudy Giuliani became mayor.
Back here in Portland the city is suffering greatly with the Rank Choice Voting results. We ended up with an inept city council consisting of the C average crowd and nearly half members of the DSA. Their lack of intellect has been proven in their inability to do anything except fight. Too stupid to know how stupid they are. They even thought of bringing in a consultant.
Last week they passed an ordinance creating a law that prohibits city employees from helping federal immigration authorities to enforce immigration laws, except when required by law.
There is a continual drum beat that this is about some poor immigrant who didn't have their papers in order and the Feds are "violent." Meanwhile 8 Mexican cartel members (what news reports said) were arrested breaking into a high-end vacation home near Mt. Hood and stealing $120k of property.
See the Cartels are operating here freely. Drug use is rampant because there is no one taking it off the streets (see https://truthonthestreets.substack.com/) and human trafficking is part of all of this as well.
We ARE the weak link on a huge part of the West Coast of the United States. Think of it in war game terms if it doesn't make sense.
Our leadership is complicit and Tina Kotek should be arrested.
Another woman presiding over a ruined leftist west coast state. Imagine that.
"Bringing in a consultant" to tell them how stupid they were?
Since they lack the capacity to actually do their jobs that would be the only answer to give them.