Tag: Mamdani

M is for Midtown and Manhattan and Mamdani (and much more)

It’s been a year since I wrote about New York City and two years since I’ve visited. Who knows when I will be back. I do know I still love to read about it, which isn’t hard, since it’s often in the news. So here’s my annual post on NYC, brought to you by the letter “M”.

Midtown: First off, shout out to Midtown Manhattan, a much maligned part of the city. As this piece shows, it had quite the year, between the Knicks winning the NBA championship to Taylor Swift getting married. Mind you, it had some bad things happen, like this collapsing high rise,  That said, this quote sums things up: “Midtown is not usually cool, but, right now, it kind of is.” I’ve always had a soft spot for Midtown, so I am glad it is getting some love.

Relatedly, I really liked this piece: “As a child growing up in Midtown Manhattan, I learned to speak apartment very early.”

Mayor Mamdani: Much ink has been spilled on the new mayor of New York, the indefatigable Zohran Mamdani. It seems every day he and his team and promoting a new initiative for the city, from solving the city’s budget crisis to working on bringing cheaper grocery stores to certain boroughs. While he sometimes wanders into topics that don’t seem to make sense to me (e.g., the Koh-i-noor diamond debate) and while some of his goals may not be achievable (e.g., taxing the rich), I am impressed by his drive and his ambition.

I’m also particularly impressed by his communication skills. This interview he did with the New York Times is like a masterclass on how to handle difficult questions. I’ve seen him do this not just with people from the Times but other interviewers as well.

As for the Times, they don’t seem to know what to do with him, is my general thought. Going through this list of articles and op-eds about him in that paper, you get the sense that at best, they are highly doubtful of him. Let’s see how that relationship evolves.

Making do: affordability is a big topic not only in Mamdani’s New York but everywhere. The Times has a good series on how people with every day jobs somehow are making do in the Big Apple. The stories range from a family of 3 living on $500,000 on the Upper West Side to another family of 3 living off $25,000 in Queens. Quite the range financially and geographically.

Minimal living: speaking of affordable, visitors can always stay at these $100 hotels in New York City. Do you want to is the next question.

Maximal living: is this place affordable? No. Is it worth a look? As a fan of maximalism, I’d say yes.

Museum Living: not affordable or maximal is the Manhattan apartment of David Sedaris. In some ways it’s like seeing a museum or a nice art gallery. We should all take up humorous writing and live so well. 🙂
 

Martinis: if you are in New York and you’re looking for a place to get a New York happy meal, here are 13 essential spots according to Wallpaper*. And what is a New York happy meal, you might ask? Well according to the article: it consists of “an ice-cold martini and piping-hot French fries”. Sounds great to me.

Meals at 3 a.m.: I worried during the pandemic that New York might be backing away from being a place that never sleeps.That you might not be able to grab a bite at 3 a.m. like you once could. Well I worried for nothing. According to this piece by, there are still great places you can eat 24 hours a day. (And if want to know of more places to hit up, you’ll want to check out Fortney’s other pieces.)

The Metropolitan Opera: tough times for opera fans in New York (and those like me who come to the city on occasion to see opera, as New York’s Met Opera recently announces ‘necessary’ layoffs and pay cuts.

Massive: when I think of “massive” and “New York” last year, two things come to mind:

 

The frugality of Bernie Sanders (some brief thoughts on politics and fashion)

Is Bernie Sanders a frugal guy? Does his fashion sense indicate he is a left wing guy? Let’s consider this winter jacket he’s wearing. For Mayor Mamdani’s NYC inauguration, he wore this to give a speech and swear in the mayor. This particular jacket he’s had for 8 years now, which seems pretty economical. Frugal even.

How did I know he has had this coat for 8 years? Because the picture above was taken in 2018 at Bill de Blasio’s swearing-in ceremony. And what happened then? There was an entire controversy about him wearing a supposed $700 jacket. (More on it, here.)

Was there anyone writing about Bernie’s frugality this time? Not that I could find. What I did find was lots of people writing about the wife of the mayor wearing expensive boots to the ceremony!

Some thoughts:

  • These aren’t really valid criticisms of political figures on the left. They’re more fake gotcha moments to try and sour readers on an individual by highlighting some supposed hypocrisy. They don’t hold any more weight than criticizing former Mayor Bloomberg of bein a hypocrite because he would occasionally choose to ride the subway even though  he can easily use a chauffeured limo.
  • Unless a candidate asks people to vote for them because they are poor, there’s no hypocrisy anyway. Most left wing candidates ask people to vote for them because of the actions they are going to do, not for the things they wear. If anything left wing politicians put less stock in fashion choices than they should. Fashion doesn’t matter much, but it does matter a bit.
  • Left wing candidates are policed for their fashion much more than the right. Obama was criticized for not wearing a flag pin and once — once! — wearing a tan suit. Michelle Obama was constantly scrutinized for what clothes she chose to wear to events. In the end it doesn’t matter much to most people and the people who disliked President Obama moved on to other things to criticize him for once he donned the pin and got back in the dark suit lane.
  • Fashion does signal something about an individual. But it’s a very unclear signal for the most part. Bernie’s supposedly expensive jacket might have been picked up at a discount mall for a small fraction of it’s list price. The expensive boots Rama Duwaji wore were apparently borrowed, so essentially they ended up costing nothing, indicating nothing other than she has good taste. People who depend too much on fashion to tell you something about a politician should give that a rest and focus on their words and deeds instead.
  • If you want to know something about the new mayor of NYC and his words and deeds, I recommend you read about his inauguration. And if you want to know more about his wife Rama, you can check out her website or her instagram page.

 

White Out! Here’s a blizzard of good links to end the year (i.e. the December 2025 edition of my not-a-newsletter newsletter)

The second half of 2025 is done, so it’s time to follow up on what I wrote at the end of the first half of the year.  Having just had a good dump of the white stuff (sleet) all over my yard, I’ve decided to stay warm and dry indoors, make myself a big cup of coffee to sip on, and sort out what’s happened since June. Let’s take a look.

As with the previous edition of my not-a-newsletter newsletter, this one is somewhat preoccupied with what is happening in the Trump Administration, though less so. Like the man himself, we are all weary of his presidency, even though he’s been in office a year. (Though technically this is his fifth year as President.)

Other than trying to get a Nobel Peace Prize, he seems to be spending more time focused on his supposed strength: real estate. Of all the things that Trump has done, somehow the fact that he tore down the East Wing of the White House shocked me more than I thought it should.  As some are saying, it is emblematic of his wrecking-ball presidency.  Meanwhile, Trump plows past concerns over East Wing demolition — and envisions an even bigger ballroom than initially planned. The Guardian said the new ballroom is giving off  ‘Dictator-for-life vibes’, although it will be some time before it’s completed, and his plans for the East Wing keep changing. In the meantime, he’s having a go at smaller renos, like the Lincoln Bedroom bathroom 

When he’s not doing damage to the White House, he’s wrecking other parts of Washington, like the Kennedy Center. The Center has seen ticket sales plummeted since Trump takeover. The fact that he’s renamed it the Trump-Kennedy center won’t help matters.

Is he still engaging in extreme corruption? Yes. And not just for himself. The fact this is no longer considered “news” may account for why the media is focused more on other aspects of his Presidency, even though such corruption is a big deal.

As for the new year, could Trump’s tariffs be struck down by SCOTUS? I doubt it. Will he be able to stop the war in the Ukraine? Also doubtful. Will he be able to put the Epstein scandal behind him? Highly unlikely. Maybe he’ll stop using social media in a despicable manner the way he did during the No Kings marches? As if.

Though seemingly unstoppable, it appears 2026 will be full of obstacles for the man, based on the news and these charts examining his year in office. Big supporters like Elise Stefanik and Majorie Taylor Greene are bailing on him. GOP centrists are choosing things like the nuclear option in a fight with Speaker Mike Johnson over Obamacare. It also doesn’t help him that the Job Market is cooling (but not collapsing). More than any other problem he has to deal with though, the key one could simply be his health.

Musk

Like Trump, Elon Musk is someone who we can’t avoid thinking about, even if we want to. His bid for a pay package that could make him the first trillionaire helps to keep him in the news. He still acts like a Big Thinker, throwing out stale ideas like “micropayments”. Let’s not forget his last big idea, though: DOGE. Like the man who came up with it, DOGE was useless in its brief existence. In fact it seems that DOGE ‘doesn’t exist’ despite having months left on its charter.  It’s legacy is that it failed to save any money; all it did was leave refugee children to go hungry.

One of the few ideas that Musk successfully implemented was turning X into a platform that fosters antisemitism. Mind you, Musk is not alone in foster hate: Tucker Carlson’s gave a substantial platform for far-right antisemite Nick Fuentes to share his views. Sadly, we are seeing an ascendence of far right leaders everywhere. For example: In the New Trump Era, the Proud Boys Are ‘Not Apologizing Anymore’ (talkingpointsmemo). Perhaps that’s why Pantone names its Color of the Year for 2026: White. (Technically Cloud Dancer, which led me to revisit this 1979 art work from the Canadian Artists, General Idea: Nazi Milk.)
Mamdani
Among Americans opposing Trump, there’s been one new name that’s been attracting much attention over the last year: Zohran Mamdani, soon to be mayor of New York City. Ironically, he and Trump got along great when he visited the White House, much to the shock of many. For why people — especially young people — voted for him, read this. He seems ready to hit the ground running come January, based on this. Could be an exciting year for NYC.

Canada

Canada has also been opposing Trump. One way they’ve done it is by banning US liquor sales in provincial liquor stores. While the ban has been successful and harmful to some US companies, Canada is left to figuring out what to do with all the stockpiles of US booze.

Ontario also have been running ads in the US using Reagan to complain about the tariffs, leaving Trump angry. I’m not sure Americans ever got it enough, despite it being an effective ad. It didn’t help that the Reagan foundation did Trump a solid on tariffs – at the expense of Reagan’s ideals.

Finally/In other year end news:

The first quarter of the 21st century is over. Time to leap into the second quarter. Mind the gap.