Ellen Bender

♥️♥️♥️♥️

I got into a cab and asked the driver if he lived in NYC, and if he had voted already. He said that he had not voted and he was still undecided. I whipped out a palm card and gave it to him. He said that he would look at it. By the end of the ride he was leaning toward Mamdani.

Andrew Cuomo interview this morning on MSNBC and he…
-said diversity could be a weakness
-continued to repeatedly mispronounce “Mamdami”
-CONFUSED TWO BLACK ANCHORS WITH EACH OTHER

Cuomo's position across all his free media since the debate is "I am basically a Republican and Republicans should vote for me" (obviously targeting Sliwa supporters)

I have to think this is gonna cause some dropoff in the Democratic support he needs but I guess we'll see

The assumption appears to be that ordinary voters will be cowed, obsequious, and unwilling to challenge autocracy, just like the billionaires, business leaders, media executives, and other leading institutions of civil society, which have decided that fighting back is “not worth the hassle.”

He could have commented on the dangers of a president vowing to punish an entire city because he doesn’t like the democratically-elected Mayor, or asked Mamdani to do so. Instead, he took these threats for granted and asked whether voters should decide to be swayed by the rhetoric of an autocrat.

Coooper: Recently, you heard President Trump suggest he is going to withhold federal funding and possibly send in National Guard troops if you’re elected. Andrew Cuomo kind of amplified that. What do you have to say to New Yorkers who say, is this worth the hassle of losing perhaps a lot of money in federal funding if you become the mayor?

In the 1st question of his brief interview with Mamdani. Anderson Cooper reports Trump’s strongman threats to punish NYC if the Mayoral candidate is elected, as if he gets to select where funding goes according to his whims, & then asks whether voters will find it “worth the hassle” to vote for him.

Centering everything on Trump AND giving Trump's threats validity is a weakness of the mainstream press.

I've given my new Senator a lot of shit on here. But I don't think anyone with power has laid out the stakes of what we're facing as clearly as she does right here.

And if she's saying this, it's because she feels she must.

Omg 😭

Here’s what they actually thought: they’ll just go after the left wing Bad Jews (who aren’t really Jews so it’s ok) but we’re the Good Jews so it will be fine. joelhs.bsky.social/post/3m4gzansohs2a

Tweet from John Podhoretz reading: "My mother was a Heritage board member for 40 years. You have befouled her, you rancid wretch of an amoeba." quoting Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, tweeting: "There has been speculation that @Heritage is distancing itself from @TuckerCarlson over the past 24 hours. I want to put that to rest right now—here are my thoughts:"

The Jewish right discovering in real time that the Trumpist right, and the open bigotries it has unleashed upon the US body politic, is not in fact going to spare Jews, is quite a trip.

MTA New York transportation service information, maps, schedules, fares, tolls, and more.

The rain is also impacting some subway and bus service. Check the @mta.info app or visit their website before you travel. www.mta.info

Parts of Brooklyn, Queens + The Bronx are under a flash flood warning. Heavy rain and wind is creating dangerous conditions — please be careful as you move about the city.

Sign up for alerts from NotifyNYC (a858-nycnotify.nyc.gov) and report any outages or conditions to 311.

What is Jeremy W. Peters's beat? Why is the same person writing about how Elon Musk is not actually conservative, trans teenagers should be denied healthcare, and Mamdani is Bowdoin sleeper agent? This is like how for some reason Bob Dylan, Paul Atreides, and Willy Wonka were all played by Timmy C.

Is NYC ready for a mayor who can pronounce words properly, critics ask

Andrew Cuomo, who has made his alleged support of Jews a cornerstone of his mayoral campaign, just canceled his appearance at my synagogue with less than 3 hours' notice.

It's one of the larger synagogues in Brooklyn. Mamdani and Sliwa both spoke there recently.

What's Up With the Other Three Ballot Proposals? Plus, more news for your Tuesday.

One week til Election Day—but who's counting? Here's some more ballot proposal content to chew on.

As the Atlantic Ocean warms, climate change is fueling Hurricane Melissa's ferocity Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm due to warming oceans linked to climate change.

I am thinking of the people of Jamaica, and the many New Yorkers with loved ones there, as Hurricane Melissa — fueled by a warming ocean — grows into the strongest storm ever to bear down upon the island.

Washington Post CEO Will Lewis has largely stayed out of the public eye as the paper has scaled back its staff and altered the direction of its opinion page. But that hasn't stopped him from recruiting. In recent months, Lewis attempted to hire the Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold, two people familiar with the situation told Semafor, an idea that he discussed with owner Jeff Bezos, who supported the move. The idea was for Reingold to serve as one of the first new faces in the paper's overhauled opinion section, with Bezos' new focus on free markets and personal liberties. The attempt to hire Reingold to create written and video opinion content is part of the Post's push to make the paper's journalists engage in different mediums; the paper announced earlier this year that it was launching a creator network and hiring staff to create more personality-driven content. Reingold declined to comment; a spokesperson for the Post said the paper doesn't comment on hiring discussions.

Semafor newsletter via @willsommer.bsky.social. I have expired. I am deceased.

Portland resists with whimsical improv theater, Chicago resists by screaming at weird jagoffs that don’t belong in the neighborhood. Every city brings its own strengths to the fight

I mean what do you even say. Ideology trumps material reality every day of the week.

Editorial: Cuomo makes a final appeal to hate, fear Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's deployment of Islamophobia in the New York City mayoral election is a problem for the whole state and the rest of the nation, and needs to be denounced.

From the newspaper that knows him best. “It is not surprising to once again find the ex-governor on the low road; the voters of New York City should ensure that he proceeds to the exit ramp.” www.timesunion.com/opinion/arti... #VoteForMamdani

i really resent the continued assertion that there’s so much anger on both sides, as if the causes of the anger are equally legitimate. we’re angry because masked maniacs are violently snatching our family and neighbors off the street, and they’re angry because we’re calling them out for it.

Great thread, and read the thread it’s based on too

A dispatch from the Upper East Side.

Across the five boroughs, tens of thousands of volunteers are meeting their neighbors, building community, and winning this election, one door at a time.

GOTV continues tomorrow: zohranfornyc.com/gotv

As a complement to my thoughts, I recommend this insightful thread on the Ezra Klein interview by @judah-grunstein.bsky.social.
bsky.app/profile/juda...

In the last week, Trump tore down a portion of the White House, claims that a friend of his is paying the military, posted a video of him dumping shit on the American people, demanded hundreds of millions of dollars from DoJ, and unleashed vicious ICE agents on peaceful American cities.

Want to save democracy? Amanda Litman has marching orders for you My chat with the leader of Run for Something about where we go after No Kings, what the Democratic Party can learn from Zohran Mamdani, and why the antidote to fascism may start at your dinner table

Talking with @anandwrites.bsky.social for an hour made me feel better. I hope listening makes you feel better, too. the.ink/p/want-to-sa...

Zohran sitting on a couch, reading from a memo, in the waiting room outside the Pix 11 TV studio.

One year ago today, just before dawn, preparing for my first interview as a candidate for Mayor of New York City.

What we have built together over these past 12 months is nothing short of extraordinary.

12 more days to bring it home.