New York poised for first South Asian - origin and Muslim mayor as Cuomo concedes to Mamdani

[Agnostic Muslim]

This is the problem. And, it needs to be stopped.

Remind me again whether it was the conservative or liberal justices that voted in favor of corporations in Citizens United.

And which politicians are actually calling for banning corporate money in elections?

 

[Proud Thamizhan]

I see more and more every day people, not just the chronic homeless, getting bad breaks, sleeping in their cars figuring out their situation.

Our dear old USA has all the land, materials and money to build all the homes this population needs. There really is no reason for home prices to be skyhigh in general. Yet that happens !

Juts like we have all the colleges and universities to accommodate every student in the USA, and the money to provide quality education (not just in the hedge funds such as harvards) yet we make going to college a huge thing

Dumbos such as AOC Mamdani et al take such situational ironies and make a living out of it, offering speeches to the dumb half of the population. Even there the irony doesn't stop - many of that dumb half are willing wilfull dumbos, not natural ones.

Such is our country. We shouldn't have any shortages, problems or miseries yet we do because we do

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Remind me again whether it was the conservative or liberal justices that voted in favor of corporations in Citizens United.

And which politicians are actually calling for banning corporate money in elections?

Please.....don't play me. I think you're smarter than that.

Both sides have played that game. And both sides take in all the corporate and dark money they can get their greedy hands on.

Both sides.

Even ol' John McCain, who was all about "campaign finance reform", was raking it in.

For a TT:C dude, you're not impressing me in the least.

 

[gambit]

Well, since we’re getting a great taste of how greedy oligarchs will destroy the middle class, and mainstream racism and fascism under Trump and the Republicans, so I’m all for trying out a Democratic Socialist.

But why...??? There is a story about Kansas city government run grocery stores being shiddy. We got at least one hundred yrs of Democratic Socialism, aka communism, experimented in various versions all over the world. They all destroyed the middle class. So why would you want to re-try it?

 

[Davey Crockett]

Missouri lawmaker warns Mamdani's expensive socialist plans already crashed and burned in his state​

Kansas City's failed city-run grocery store and free bus program serve as cautionary tale for New York​

Missouri lawmaker warns Mamdani's expensive socialist plans already crashed and burned in his state

GOP Rep. Alford warns New Yorkers that Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Mamdani's proposals for city-run grocery stores and free buses failed in Kansas City.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Watandar]

Missouri lawmaker warns Mamdani's expensive socialist plans already crashed and burned in his state​

Kansas City's failed city-run grocery store and free bus program serve as cautionary tale for New York​

Missouri lawmaker warns Mamdani's expensive socialist plans already crashed and burned in his state

GOP Rep. Alford warns New Yorkers that Democratic socialist mayoral candidate Mamdani's proposals for city-run grocery stores and free buses failed in Kansas City.

www.foxnews.com

No doubt sabotaged by the Missouri legislature and state govt. New York could turn out differently. Focusing political attention on the poor and working class alone is a big achievement of Mamdani.

 

[Agnostic Muslim]

Please.....don't play me. I think you're smarter than that.

Both sides have played that game. And both sides take in all the corporate and dark money they can get their greedy hands on.

Both sides.

Even ol' John McCain, who was all about "campaign finance reform", was raking it in.

For a TT:C dude, you're not impressing me in the least.

I completely agree that the majority of the Democrats are just as compromised, which is why I support people like Mamdani and other Democratic progressives. No one I can see on the conservative side willing to take on corporations.

I posed some simple questions earlier and no one is looking to ‘impress’ anyone, merely engage in debates and conversations:

- Was it liberal or conservative judges that sided with corporations and opened the spigots of corporate money in elections in the Citizens United case?

- What political spectrum do the majority of politicians calling for campaign finance reform and overturning Citizens United belong to?

You pointed out the presence of corporate money in elections as a major problem - I see this as typical conservative distractions - pretend that they care about the middle & working class by criticising ‘greedy corporations’ and corporate money in elections, but then voting for the same politicians that gave us corporate welfare, deregulation and gutted social services via the BBB and appoint yet more judges to the courts that are pro-corporations.

 

[Agnostic Muslim]

But why...??? There is a story about Kansas city government run grocery stores being shiddy. We got at least one hundred yrs of Democratic Socialism, aka communism, experimented in various versions all over the world. They all destroyed the middle class. So why would you want to re-try it?

There’s no point in having this discussion if you can’t even tell the difference between the Democratic Socialists, Socialism and Communism.

 

[Meengla]

Well, since we’re getting a great taste of how greedy oligarchs will destroy the middle class, and mainstream racism and fascism under Trump and the Republicans, so I’m all for trying out a Democratic Socialist.

The Democratic Party is the future for the immigrants, for the Palestinians, and indeed for the Americans. I had been saying in the Gaza War thread for a long time to look past Biden's personal Zionism, to look past VP Harris's loyalty to her President, and dig deeper into who'd be your natural allies: The Youth, the visible minorities, the progressive, the labor unions.

The stats starting in this part of the video are facts. Facts which the NYT Times mentioned in a prominent article a few weeks ago.

 

[Meengla]

Please.....don't play me. I think you're smarter than that.
Both sides have played that game. And both sides take in all the corporate and dark money they can get their greedy hands on.
Both sides.
Even ol' John McCain, who was all about "campaign finance reform", was raking it in.

You are correct in the quoted part.
But this is a Pakistani forum with a large international community, and, as to be expected, a large part of the community here is about international relations/foreign policy. I tell this to my American friends that I don't much have the time for the 'culture wars', about the 'wokism', about the racial issues. Like every first or second generation immigrants, we are more focused on the international issues, especially pertaining to our former homelands.

They try to drag me into the culture war debates here and I, though essentially a liberal, try to stay away. But recently I alienated my dearest friend and neighbor of 18 years who is a staunch liberal by calling him a 'blind supporter of the Democrats'. We have not spoken since last September and he used to come to my house for Desi food every few weeks.

 

[gambit]

There’s no point in having this discussion if you can’t even tell the difference between the Democratic Socialists, Socialism and Communism.

You are correct, it is pointless. But not because I cannot tell the difference between versions of communists. Am saying the differences are irrelevant, misleading on purpose, and always ended up the same way -- a disaster.

 

[Agnostic Muslim]

You are correct, it is pointless. But not because I cannot tell the difference between versions of communists. Am saying the differences are irrelevant, misleading on purpose, and always ended up the same way -- a disaster.

Or, we could avoid labels and generalizations based on labels and debate the actual policy proposals and records in office (in the US).

 

[Agnostic Muslim]

But recently I alienated my dearest friend and neighbor of 18 years who is a staunch liberal by calling him a 'blind supporter of the Democrats'.

I had similar fallouts with friends and some family - their hearts were absolutely in the right place: support for Palestine, progressive taxation to fund social programs for the needy etc. but they refused to understand how compromised and hollow the Democratic party itself has become. It’s essentially ‘Republican Lite’, save positions on ‘culture war issues’.

I probably should have been clearer in my response to @AZ_HighCountry - the problem exists on both Democratic and Republican sides, but between the two, the Democrats are the only side that has progressives like the DSA members that are willing to bring about structural changes like reforming campaign finance and ending the influence of corporate money in elections, and the broader party is still more likely to nominate justices that will overturn Citizens United than the Republicans.

That said, I also find people who argue that the Republican party of today is ‘unjustly called racist’ as either completely out of touch with reality or engaged in dissembling to justify the racist, xenophobic and misogynistic views espoused by the American Right.

 

[Meengla]

I had similar fallouts with friends and some family - their hearts were absolutely in the right place: support for Palestine, progressive taxation to fund social programs for the needy etc. but they refused to understand how compromised and hollow the Democratic party itself has become. It’s essentially ‘Republican Lite’, save positions on ‘culture war issues’.

My fall out with the Democratic neighbor/friend of 18 years happened over foreign policies of America. He refused anything done wrong by the Democratic Presidents whether the Ukraine War or the attack on Libya or the attack on Syria or the escalation in Afghanistan under the Obama and Biden administrations. Sure, Bush Jr. attacking Iraq in 2003 was vile but nothing ever bad could be done by the Democratic Presidents. He even said that what Israelis were offering in Camp David 2000 was a fair offer to Palestinians. I countered by saying that you are saying that because it was under a Democratic President (Clinton). He said, 'well, the Palestinians could have build on that!'
Finally, he said candidly: 'I don't much care for what happens in Gaza or Ukraine'. There he revealed himself as not a true liberal.

 

[Watandar]

My fall out with the Democratic neighbor/friend of 18 years happened over foreign policies of America. He refused anything done wrong by the Democratic Presidents whether the Ukraine War or the attack on Libya or the attack on Syria or the escalation in Afghanistan under the Obama and Biden administrations. Sure, Bush Jr. attacking Iraq in 2003 was vile but nothing ever bad could be done by the Democratic Presidents. He even said that what Israelis were offering in Camp David 2000 was a fair offer to Palestinians. I countered by saying that you are saying that because it was under a Democratic President (Clinton). He said, 'well, the Palestinians could have build on that!'
Finally, he said candidly: 'I don't much care for what happens in Gaza or Ukraine'. There he revealed himself as not a true liberal.

Democrats and white liberals truly revealed their deceitful and ugly faces during the Biden era. They only care about Jews, rich people, war, black women and homosexuals and dont care about anybody or anything else. They fooled Muslims and many others for decades by pretending to be inclusive while only desiring your money and votes for elections. In reality the Dems are just Republican-lite. I think the Dem party as it currently exists will slowly disintegrate and we are looking at GOP rule for a long time. All that will be harmful for America.

It's time to try third parties or independents or new folks like Mr Mamdani.