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You guys have it all wrong. There was only one candidate for the dem party, Here's the list: 1) Cuomo. Sexpest who has been accused by many women of some prett

You guys have it all wrong. There was only one candidate for the dem party, Here's the list: 1) Cuomo. Sexpest who has been accused by many women of some pretty shitty stuff. Also a member of a multi-generational dynasty, which is not good. 2) Mayor Adams. Federally indicted by the Feds. They have a 99% conviction rate. Not because they're corrupt, but because they only go after people who have dome some really egregious, illegal shit. 3) Mamdani. Millennial candidate. No dirt. Other that some stupid stuff he said while he was young, his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road, and are aimed at leveling the playing field. Gee, who should I choose? [[said all of NYC today]]

brandonagr2 1y ago
Government run grocery stores are middle of the road? What would progressive ideas look like on that spectrum?
- hakfoo 1y ago
  Ration books for all?
- throwaway81523 1y ago
  Plenty of red states have government run liquor stores. And army bases have government run grocery stores along with government run everything else. I don't see the problem here. Progressive version presumably would be free groceries for everyone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_grocery_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_grocery_store
  - dboreham 1y ago
    Was going to say our state had government liquor stores until a couple of years ago. The sky remained in place.
  - ch4s3 1y ago
    State liquor stores are terrible, and I’ve never heard anyone say a nice word about on base grocery stores.
    - afavour 1y ago
      That’s just goal post shifting. The point is that government owned direct to consumer stores exist in areas of all political leaning.
      - throwaway3060 1y ago
        That's because liquor stores originated from an earlier incarnation of the culture wars. That was a long time ago, and I don't think anyone seriously believes in that justification now, but the inertia remains.
        cogman10 1y ago
        They still exist in Idaho (where I live) because the state doesn't believe in advertising alcohol. I think that's a pretty good reason for them to exist even today. We don't need the market competing to get people to drink more.
        ch4s3 1y ago
        > I think that's a pretty good reason for them to exist even today. Only if you think the government should be telling people what to buy and what not to buy. I personally find that highly objectionable, particularly given the outsized power of primary voters in most places.
      - Ferret7446 1y ago
        You suggested that this is good because it is similar to a thing, and many people pointed out that thing you compared it to is bad. That is not goalpost shifting, that is you demonstrating that this is in fact bad.
  - moregrist 1y ago
    When I lived in Pennsylvania, the state-run liquor stores had a monopoly on selling wine and liquor. This survived Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. Mamdani’s proposed grocery stores aren’t a monopoly. Whether they’re a good idea remains to be seen, but they’d be competing against privately owned grocery stores. As I understand them, they’re mostly intended for areas without a local grocery store (food deserts), which seems like a reasonable thing to explore.
    - aeternum 1y ago
      Note that they don't have to be a monopoly to cause a problem. Usually the way things go is these state-run grocery stores get subsidies. The goal is to provide food in food deserts, not to be profitable. Over time the subsidy inevitably grows meaning higher taxes for non-gov grocery stores. This leads to a cycle where the state-run stores pushes out the corp-run stores with the thinnest margins. Ultimately only the bougie grocery stores remain in rich neighborhoods and now you have to really hope that you can continue funding those state-run stores or you just made the food desert problem a whole lot worse.
    - ecshafer 1y ago
      And people hate the government run liquor stores so much they drive to Delaware to buy in wine and liquor in bulk, since the stores are expensive.
      - camel_Snake 1y ago
        Hi, that's not why people go to Delaware for those kind of purchases. It's the lack of tax. The actual MSRP from PA wine and liquor stores is very competitive, since it's one of the largest single buyers of alcohol. Selection could be better though.
        spatialspice 1y ago
        Hard agree. I may cross state lines for large purchases like laptops, but the liquor prices aren’t so bad that I’d drive >30min for better deals.
  - bogomipz 1y ago
    I would say that state-run liquor stores and subsidized city-run grocery stores such as what Mamdani proposes are not at all comparable. The former is a giant cash cow - a profit center while the latter is an entitlement program i.e a mandatory budget expense. To give an idea of the amount of money involved in state-run liquor stores, consider the state of New Hampshire's report from last year: >"In FY2024, total income before transfers was $144.7 million with the total net profit transfer of $140.0 million. Of the $140.0 million, the Liquor Commission transferred $122.0 million to the General Fund"[1] [1] https://gov.liquorandwineoutlets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AnnualReportFY24.pdf https://gov.liquorandwineoutlets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025...
    - cogman10 1y ago
      Why does a government ran entity need to be a huge money maker? NYC has a $6B cop budget. They even have subs. Yet nobody worries about that. A grocery store could be ran at a deficit. More than likely it will be neutral or will turn a slight profit.
      - bogomipz 1y ago
        >"More than likely it will be neutral or will turn a slight profit." Based on what exactly, just your opinion? Obviously you know nothing about the grocery business which is a notoriously low-margin business, between 1-3%. The only way that large grocers like Krogers and Albertsons are profitable is purely based on volume. You also realize that groceries are perishable items right? You also realize these are labor and energy inensive operations right? And that there's tons of competition? And of course shrinkage. There is zero chance that it would operate at a profit or break even. By the way it's been tried before look up Baldwin, Florida or Erie, Kansas for examples of city-run grocery failures. There are others as well. Lastly, nothing about any of this in any way comparable to NYPD as a budgetary item. Comparing retail food to public safety is just really bizarre.
        cogman10 11mo ago
        Baldwin and Erie were both in small towns. I can't find any information on Erie, but Baldwin ultimately saw a $100->$200k yearly shortfall for a city of 1400. If they wanted to accommodate that shortfall, then that translates to a $150 yearly tax burden per person. They instead chose to shutter the store. The stores lost money in both cities, but in the process baldwin sold over $1M in produce breaking even at least once. > There is zero chance that it would operate at a profit or break even. The Baldwin example shows that breaking even is definitely possible. And for a city with the population density of NY, it's probably easier to pull off. It's certainly easier to support these stores if there's a shortfall. > Lastly, nothing about any of this in any way comparable to NYPD as a budgetary item. Comparing retail food to public safety is just really bizarre. But it is. The NYPD is simply overfunded. They can buy toys and tanks while paying the cops to catch people jumping turnstiles and play candy crush. A pretty small fraction of the NYPD budget could cover shortfalls. That's why it's brought up. These grocery stores, even if they never turn a profit, won't be costing the city $100M, or $10M. They likely won't even shortfall to $1M. For a city with a budget of billions, adding 1M in is really just a drop in bucket. And in the process, such a grocery store will help far more people than the average NYPD cop does.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- nice_byte 1y ago
  "communism is when government do thing"
  - fastball 1y ago
    Communism is literally when the government owns the means of production. Owning the means of distribution is not far from that at all.
    - shawn_w 1y ago
      There is no government in an end stage Communist society.
      - zitsarethecure 1y ago
        Interestingly "no government" also appears to be exactly what is happening in the US with what some people might describe as end stage Capitalist society.
    - debtta 1y ago
      No, that's literally socialism. Communism is something different.
      - cogman10 1y ago
        I disagree that it's even socialism as NYC isn't outlawing or using the emoluments clause to take control of private stores. It isn't ceasing the means of production in any sense. The Mamdani plan is to put in stores where no stores exist. That's just a city ran store. Something that used to be pretty common in the US.
        mothballed 1y ago
        Stores exist there. They have some foodstuffs even. They have bars on all the window and your money is handed through a rotating tray under a bulletproof glass with tiny holes in it so you can talk to the cashier (who also has a shotgun resting under their cash register). That is because that is the viable model in those areas to actually run a store without having your staff egregiously injured/assaulted and not have everything not nailed down stolen. This ends up getting reflected also in higher prices of foods in those areas, to reflect the cost and lower supply of those willing to take those measures. So people will call it a 'food desert' -- not because you can't get food there (though it mostly sucks and is shelf stable stuff) but because nothing there resembling a walk-around middle-class grocery store exists. Failing to take those measures, or taking the measures and not raising prices enough to cover the costs, will likely end up in the state losing money, that is, they will be forced to seize the capital of private citizens to fund the state's commercial offerings.
- johnnyanmac 1y ago
  Government runs a lot of businesses alongside private estates. Postal is the biggest example. Why is this super unusual? I don't know if it's middle of the road, but I don't think it's socialism. Progressive ideas would be price controls on groceries to curb inflation, or seizing the means of production by making a major stake in a major food chain. (side note: I think it's hilarious that Trump is doing this with Intel and potentially Tiktok and few have labeled it as such).
- NaomiLehman 1y ago
  Free food
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
The fact that I was seeing Sliwa favourably speaks to the candidate quality in this race. > No dirt. Other that some stupid stuff he said while he was young Stupid stuff he credibly disavowed. I’m still blown away that after De Blasio he was the only one, when asked a foreign policy question, who said he’d put city priorities first.
- chasil 1y ago
  It is unfortunate that, after the Spanish Inquisition, Jewish refugees were welcome in Istanbul, but the current receptivity is so much colder. This is exactly the point where the historic tolerance of the middle east is most direly needed, but common ground in so many contexts is absent. I hope that we can put ourselves back together. We've seen the consequences this year of its lack.
  - JumpCrisscross 1y ago
    > where the historic tolerance of the middle east is most direly needed Sure. Broadly. But there is one correct answer a mayoral candidate could give on such an issue, and it’s the one Mamdani gave.
    - chasil 1y ago
      This is from Eisenhower's "Cross of Iron" speech: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies—in the final sense—a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than thirty cities. It is: two electric power plants, each serving a town of sixty thousand population. It is: two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is: some fifty miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than eight thousand people. This—I repeat—is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/humanity-hanging-cross-iron https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/humanity-hanging...
nialv7 1y ago
well 40% still voted for Cuomo.
- jen729w 1y ago
  That 40% would have voted for a potato if it'd been wearing a red tie.
  - jen20 1y ago
    Manifestly not - Cuomo ran as an independent, and a Republican did run.
    - kacesensitive 1y ago
      The Republicans in the Whitehouse told them to vote Cuomo
      - tartoran 1y ago
        I feel that Sliwa suggested Mamdami over Cuomo.
        johnnyanmac 1y ago
        I remember hearing that Cuomo called to get an endorsement from Trump. I'm not sure how much of that went through, but it would explain why it seemed like Cuomo completely ate Silwa's votes. 7% even for NYC is absolutely below par for Republicans.
BobaFloutist 1y ago
From a distance it looks like Cuomo is also a generational talent when it comes to being a lazy, unmotivated campaigner.
- evan_ 1y ago
  Not to mention raising and spending money campaign money.
Taek 1y ago
It's not clear to me why a multigenerational dynasty specifically is a bad thing? Presumably the kids can learn from the parents, get connected, etc. Also, Mamdani's policies are incredibly controversial, that's why it's such big news. Lots of people predicting that Mamdani's criminal policies, economic policies, and lack of experienced staffers will lead the city to dark days.
- dmbche 1y ago
  You want your elected officials to "keep connections" accross generations? You also think New York can't find someone that's at least as competent as someone in a multigenerational dynasty?
  - Taek 1y ago
    Based on what I saw in the debates, I'm sure there are lots of people in NYC more capable than anyone on the ballet. But yes, someone with connections is going to be more operationally effective than someone without them. If the leader isn't themselves well connected, they should at least have close advisors who do.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > not clear to me why a multigenerational dynasty specifically is a bad thing? Aristocracies are more stable but less efficient. That creates an incentive for corruption when growth inevitably stalls. Which leads to catastrophic instability.
  - terminalshort 1y ago
    There is minimal incentive for corruption in a hereditary aristocracy. Status is determined by birthright rather than accumulation of money. And if you are a lord and do need money, you have the power to tax it legally anyway. So what incentive is there to make or take a bribe? It won't change who your parents are.
    - 1y ago
blitz_skull 1y ago
[flagged]
- noobermin 1y ago
  The open islamophobia is why a lot of people have cooled on the right since the 2024 election despite them having a more palatable opinion on crime.
  - blitz_skull 1y ago
    I have no idea what you're trying to say.
    - nobody9999 11mo ago
      He's saying you're a bigoted piece of shit. Does that make it clear?
      - blitz_skull 11mo ago
        Oh no, a random nobody disagrees with me, what shall I do?
- bix6 1y ago
  California in free fall? Lol.
  - text0404 1y ago
    Yeah, didn't you know we're in free fall because of checks notes the influx of Muslim Communists? If only New York had learned this one important lesson then they too wouldn't fall as far as checks notes again the state with the largest GDP of any state.
    - blitz_skull 1y ago
      Willful ignorance doesn't change the facts. California could fall off into the ocean and the United States wouldn't blink. But keep livin' in your bubble if that's what makes you happy.
aidenn0 1y ago
...Said less than 51% of voters
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  We can call winners this early. We can’t yet call margins.
  - aidenn0 1y ago
    Good point; still mathematically less than 60% if you trust AP's estimated remaining vote count.
    - UncleMeat 1y ago
      Does it only count if he gets 60% of the vote?
- kelnos 1y ago
  The "said all of NYC" wasn't the best framing, but the entire post was about Democrats' choices, not everyone's. Also not sure what value your comment has. Interpret things charitably. Your "gotcha" is not at all that.
  - aidenn0 1y ago
    Perhaps I misread the tone of the comment I replied to, but I have seen lots of "Everybody supports X" when X won with barely half of the votes, and less than half the voting-aged population voted.
parineum 1y ago
> his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road, and are aimed at leveling the playing field. That's not true at all. He is not even "middle of the road" in the Democratic party.
GenerWork 1y ago
>his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road. Rent control isn't middle of the road, it's 100% socialist. Same thing with city run grocery stores. He also wants to defund the police while replacing them with community outreach people, as well as raising the minimum wage to $30 in 5 years which is absolutely wild. None of this is middle of the road in any way, shape, or form.
- noobermin 1y ago
  He has moderated on the police funding issue, and the rent freeze is for already rent controlled apartments.
  - GenerWork 1y ago
    >He has moderated on the police funding issue So he already backtracked on a core election promise even before he got elected? Doesn’t bode well for his supporters expectations going forward.
    - pkulak 1y ago
      Seems like before you’re elected is the perfect time to adjust policy positions. Or, really, any time you’re presented with new facts.
    - matsemann 1y ago
      What a weird take. Isn't it better that he says it before the election? I think you just have it out for him, and no matter what he does you will find a way it's wrong.
    - adrian17 1y ago
      As far as I know, “defunding the police” wasn’t a campaign promise, let alone a “core” one. It indeed was the opinion he had in the past (and you can argue about whether he still thinks that privately), but there are also many statements from the last several months that he’s explicitly _not_ running on that.
    - 1y ago
dralley 1y ago
> Mamdani. Millennial candidate. No dirt. Other that some stupid stuff he said while he was young, his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road, and are aimed at leveling the playing field. Look, Mamdani ran a good campaign, and if I was an NYC voter (I am not) I'd probably vote for him out of the options provided. However, this just is not true. Many of his policies are neither "common sense" nor "middle of the road". Especially not on education and dealing with the homeless and public transit. And lots of his dumb comments were from like 2 years ago, not 12 - he was not "young" when he said them.
- peanuty1 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - dralley 1y ago
    1) "intifada" has not historically meant "peaceful resistance". It has referred to events like October 7th, and the 1st and 2nd intifadas which killed more people than the Troubles did in about 1/3rd as much time, etc. 2) Also dumb shit like "queer liberation means defund the police" and "when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the IDF"
    - griffzhowl 1y ago
      True that "intifada" doesn't imply peaceful, but it simply means "uprising" in Arabic. For example, the Warsaw ghetto uprising is called the Warsaw ghetto intifada in Arabic. Its central connotation is resistance to an oppressive regime.
    - whoooboyy 1y ago
      Why does queer liberation means defund the police sounds dumb to you? You know that for generations the police have been beating, arresting, and accosting queer people just because they are queer, right? A practice that continues to this day? (Just this year, Seattle police raided gay bars because they were gay bars) You know that defund is not the same as abolish, right? And that the nypd has an operating budget in the billions annually? You know that queer health care, particularly access to prophylaxis and safe facilities is woefully under funded, resulting in high homeless, violence, and drug abuse rates in the queer population right? And that when you put them all together you get, "taking money from the police, who have historically and contemporaneously abused queer people, and allocating those funds to the medical and social welfare of queer people would be liberatory". That sure as shit doesn't sound dumb to me, that sounds extremely reasonable to be honest given the context, history, and needs of the queer community.
peanuty1 1y ago
[flagged]
nobody9999 1y ago
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deleted 1y ago
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deleted 1y ago
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apparent 1y ago
> his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. And freezing rent for controlled units.
- pauldelany 1y ago
  Correct - common sense policies != common policies
  - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
    Doesn't make them middle of the road, though.
- cogman10 1y ago
  > Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. While not common, free buses do exist throughout the US and Europe. Free childcare is uncommon. IDK where that actually exists. Government run stores is actually very common. Many states run the liquor stores. A few cities have government run grocery stores. Freezing the rent on rent controlled buildings isn't common but rent control itself it quite uncommon. It's probably the easiest for Mamdani to accomplish.
  - zitsarethecure 1y ago
    New Mexico is experimenting with free child care. Canada has nationalized its own system and while it isn't free, it is heavily subsidized.
  - OkayPhysicist 1y ago
    Free childcare for low income families is extremely common, even in the United States. Subsidizing childcare is even more common. And it's not that expensive, because spending tends to get offset by increased tax income and reduced consumption of other wellfare benefits (from parents who choose to re-enter the workforce). As for universal free childcare, I'm aware of it's existence in a number of places in Germany (Berlin, in particular), driven by having been an extremely popular public benefit in East Germany.
pjc50 1y ago
As a Brit who has been exposed to the blanket coverage of this on social media: Mamdani is going to be like Sadiq Khan. Popular with people in the city, while those outside run endless weird fantasy "news" scare stories because he's a Muslim.
- CommanderData 1y ago
  GBnews has been unrelenting and it's frankly worked to turn non-Londoners against London and Khan. It's disgusting they're allowed to vilify him so much without any accountability.
  - jpfromlondon 1y ago
    as a proud Londoner I'd like to see him held accountable for his own lies and questionable behaviour.
    - pjc50 1y ago
      .. such as? Compared to previous mayor Boris Johnson?
      - tim333 1y ago
        Yeah likewise interested as a Londoner. The thing that annoys me the most is that by scapegoating Khan they avoid fixing the problems that are the responsibility of others. Like knife crime - the tories cut 1/3 of the police force, crime went up in London but also in the rest of the country but the papers are all lets slag Kahn for it which is jolly fun I guess but doesn't stop the stabbings and phone snatchings in a way that the central government which controls the laws and budgets could do.
- tim333 1y ago
  I'm a Londoner who voted for Khan. There's a difference in that contrary to all the scapegoat stuff in the right wing press, Khan has had largely sensible middle of of the road policies. And where he has deviated from the average, on air pollution, it's been stuff I'm in favour of - I have desire to get sick/die from that. Mamdani seems like a nice guy but some of his policies seem a bit bonkers - state owned retail outlets and the like.
debtta 1y ago
Don't forget: Eric Adams born 1960 Andrew Cuomo born 1957 Curtis Sliwa born 1954 Mamdani born 1991 On policing, on New York's relationship to Israel, on public transit, the so-called 'mainstream' is actually 'the average view of people over 60'.
- sotix 1y ago
  The median age in New York City is 36.8 years old[0]. [0]: https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?censusTopics=populationSexAgeDensity https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?c...
npteljes 1y ago
I disagree with this. I mean, it's as straightforward for me as you wrote it. But, 1. It hasn't worked like this when they elected Trump for the second time. Back then Kamala should have been the only valid candidate, according to this thinking. 2. Mamdani got 1,036,051 votes and Cuomo got 854,995. This is not exactly "all of NYC" as you imply.
MRson 1y ago
[dead]
shagie 1y ago
For a time warp from The Onion - June 22, 2021 : De Blasio: ‘Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy To Find A Mayor That Doesn’t Suck Shit, Huh?’ https://theonion.com/de-blasio-well-well-well-not-so-easy-to-find-a-may-1847151201/ https://theonion.com/de-blasio-well-well-well-not-so-easy-to... I'd also call out October 17, 2025 : Zohran Mamdani Refuses To Share Plan For Making Rich Richer https://theonion.com/zohran-mamdani-refuses-to-share-plan-for-making-rich-richer/ https://theonion.com/zohran-mamdani-refuses-to-share-plan-fo...
- AbstractH24 1y ago
  It’ll be interesting to see the headlines the onions writing by summer 2026. For all I dislike him, Trump essentially squandered the political capital he had on things that are shiny, motivated by ego, and created clickbaity headlines that single out small subsets of the American populous. He could have done far far worse and less reversible things to America. We’re now at the start of the end of his presidency, with focus first turning to midterms and then his replacement. I don’t expect Mamdani to do much better with his political capital.
  - api 1y ago
    I don’t know a ton about Mamdani but he doesn’t seem narcissistic. I agree with most of his goals but have serious doubts about the viability of the methods. We’ll see. My biggest doubts are around the idea of price controls, which almost always lead to perverse incentives. The economy finds a way to sneak in an effective price increase via other means. Either that or you create a landed gentry of sorts, or a “landed rentry” for rent control. You get a class of beneficiaries locked into place and nobody else can get in. I do like seeing different ideas get tried. I like experiments, and I think we should have more of them. The endless tape loop of 1980s-1990s Reagan/Clinton politics is clearly not addressing some glaring problems.
    - AbstractH24 1y ago
      While not a narcissist, I can’t tell how much he actually see this election as a stepping stone to higher office. Maybe even following in the footsteps of a one term senator… And I do think he’s adherent to a fairly narrowly defined set of left wing principles and ideologies. Like you, I agree there’s no harm in trying new things because there’s always what to learn. But I don’t exactly expect them to go well. Hope I’m wrong though and if nothing else it’s becoming incredibly clear we need a new generation of leaders in this country. To end this loop, like you said.
rsynnott 1y ago
It's kind of astonishing that they couldn't find a non-terrible establishment candidate, really. Like, they mightn't have won, but surely a boring establishment candidate would at least have beat Cuomo.
Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 1y ago
From wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Adams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Adams > In September 2024, a series of investigations into Adams's administration emerged. Adams was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Adams pleaded not guilty to the charges. He alleged that the charges were retaliation for opposing the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis. In February 2025, the Department of Justice in the Donald Trump administration instructed federal prosecutors to drop charges against Adams. Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case against Adams on April 2, 2025

brandonagr2 1y ago

Government run grocery stores are middle of the road? What would progressive ideas look like on that spectrum?

hakfoo 1y ago
Ration books for all?
throwaway81523 1y ago
Plenty of red states have government run liquor stores. And army bases have government run grocery stores along with government run everything else. I don't see the problem here. Progressive version presumably would be free groceries for everyone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_grocery_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_grocery_store
- dboreham 1y ago
  Was going to say our state had government liquor stores until a couple of years ago. The sky remained in place.
- ch4s3 1y ago
  State liquor stores are terrible, and I’ve never heard anyone say a nice word about on base grocery stores.
  - afavour 1y ago
    That’s just goal post shifting. The point is that government owned direct to consumer stores exist in areas of all political leaning.
    - throwaway3060 1y ago
      That's because liquor stores originated from an earlier incarnation of the culture wars. That was a long time ago, and I don't think anyone seriously believes in that justification now, but the inertia remains.
      - cogman10 1y ago
        They still exist in Idaho (where I live) because the state doesn't believe in advertising alcohol. I think that's a pretty good reason for them to exist even today. We don't need the market competing to get people to drink more.
        ch4s3 1y ago
        > I think that's a pretty good reason for them to exist even today. Only if you think the government should be telling people what to buy and what not to buy. I personally find that highly objectionable, particularly given the outsized power of primary voters in most places.
    - Ferret7446 1y ago
      You suggested that this is good because it is similar to a thing, and many people pointed out that thing you compared it to is bad. That is not goalpost shifting, that is you demonstrating that this is in fact bad.
- moregrist 1y ago
  When I lived in Pennsylvania, the state-run liquor stores had a monopoly on selling wine and liquor. This survived Republican and Democratic administrations for decades. Mamdani’s proposed grocery stores aren’t a monopoly. Whether they’re a good idea remains to be seen, but they’d be competing against privately owned grocery stores. As I understand them, they’re mostly intended for areas without a local grocery store (food deserts), which seems like a reasonable thing to explore.
  - aeternum 1y ago
    Note that they don't have to be a monopoly to cause a problem. Usually the way things go is these state-run grocery stores get subsidies. The goal is to provide food in food deserts, not to be profitable. Over time the subsidy inevitably grows meaning higher taxes for non-gov grocery stores. This leads to a cycle where the state-run stores pushes out the corp-run stores with the thinnest margins. Ultimately only the bougie grocery stores remain in rich neighborhoods and now you have to really hope that you can continue funding those state-run stores or you just made the food desert problem a whole lot worse.
  - ecshafer 1y ago
    And people hate the government run liquor stores so much they drive to Delaware to buy in wine and liquor in bulk, since the stores are expensive.
    - camel_Snake 1y ago
      Hi, that's not why people go to Delaware for those kind of purchases. It's the lack of tax. The actual MSRP from PA wine and liquor stores is very competitive, since it's one of the largest single buyers of alcohol. Selection could be better though.
      - spatialspice 1y ago
        Hard agree. I may cross state lines for large purchases like laptops, but the liquor prices aren’t so bad that I’d drive >30min for better deals.
- bogomipz 1y ago
  I would say that state-run liquor stores and subsidized city-run grocery stores such as what Mamdani proposes are not at all comparable. The former is a giant cash cow - a profit center while the latter is an entitlement program i.e a mandatory budget expense. To give an idea of the amount of money involved in state-run liquor stores, consider the state of New Hampshire's report from last year: >"In FY2024, total income before transfers was $144.7 million with the total net profit transfer of $140.0 million. Of the $140.0 million, the Liquor Commission transferred $122.0 million to the General Fund"[1] [1] https://gov.liquorandwineoutlets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AnnualReportFY24.pdf https://gov.liquorandwineoutlets.com/wp-content/uploads/2025...
  - cogman10 1y ago
    Why does a government ran entity need to be a huge money maker? NYC has a $6B cop budget. They even have subs. Yet nobody worries about that. A grocery store could be ran at a deficit. More than likely it will be neutral or will turn a slight profit.
    - bogomipz 1y ago
      >"More than likely it will be neutral or will turn a slight profit." Based on what exactly, just your opinion? Obviously you know nothing about the grocery business which is a notoriously low-margin business, between 1-3%. The only way that large grocers like Krogers and Albertsons are profitable is purely based on volume. You also realize that groceries are perishable items right? You also realize these are labor and energy inensive operations right? And that there's tons of competition? And of course shrinkage. There is zero chance that it would operate at a profit or break even. By the way it's been tried before look up Baldwin, Florida or Erie, Kansas for examples of city-run grocery failures. There are others as well. Lastly, nothing about any of this in any way comparable to NYPD as a budgetary item. Comparing retail food to public safety is just really bizarre.
      - cogman10 11mo ago
        Baldwin and Erie were both in small towns. I can't find any information on Erie, but Baldwin ultimately saw a $100->$200k yearly shortfall for a city of 1400. If they wanted to accommodate that shortfall, then that translates to a $150 yearly tax burden per person. They instead chose to shutter the store. The stores lost money in both cities, but in the process baldwin sold over $1M in produce breaking even at least once. > There is zero chance that it would operate at a profit or break even. The Baldwin example shows that breaking even is definitely possible. And for a city with the population density of NY, it's probably easier to pull off. It's certainly easier to support these stores if there's a shortfall. > Lastly, nothing about any of this in any way comparable to NYPD as a budgetary item. Comparing retail food to public safety is just really bizarre. But it is. The NYPD is simply overfunded. They can buy toys and tanks while paying the cops to catch people jumping turnstiles and play candy crush. A pretty small fraction of the NYPD budget could cover shortfalls. That's why it's brought up. These grocery stores, even if they never turn a profit, won't be costing the city $100M, or $10M. They likely won't even shortfall to $1M. For a city with a budget of billions, adding 1M in is really just a drop in bucket. And in the process, such a grocery store will help far more people than the average NYPD cop does.
- deleted 1y ago
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nice_byte 1y ago
"communism is when government do thing"
- fastball 1y ago
  Communism is literally when the government owns the means of production. Owning the means of distribution is not far from that at all.
  - shawn_w 1y ago
    There is no government in an end stage Communist society.
    - zitsarethecure 1y ago
      Interestingly "no government" also appears to be exactly what is happening in the US with what some people might describe as end stage Capitalist society.
  - debtta 1y ago
    No, that's literally socialism. Communism is something different.
    - cogman10 1y ago
      I disagree that it's even socialism as NYC isn't outlawing or using the emoluments clause to take control of private stores. It isn't ceasing the means of production in any sense. The Mamdani plan is to put in stores where no stores exist. That's just a city ran store. Something that used to be pretty common in the US.
      - mothballed 1y ago
        Stores exist there. They have some foodstuffs even. They have bars on all the window and your money is handed through a rotating tray under a bulletproof glass with tiny holes in it so you can talk to the cashier (who also has a shotgun resting under their cash register). That is because that is the viable model in those areas to actually run a store without having your staff egregiously injured/assaulted and not have everything not nailed down stolen. This ends up getting reflected also in higher prices of foods in those areas, to reflect the cost and lower supply of those willing to take those measures. So people will call it a 'food desert' -- not because you can't get food there (though it mostly sucks and is shelf stable stuff) but because nothing there resembling a walk-around middle-class grocery store exists. Failing to take those measures, or taking the measures and not raising prices enough to cover the costs, will likely end up in the state losing money, that is, they will be forced to seize the capital of private citizens to fund the state's commercial offerings.
johnnyanmac 1y ago
Government runs a lot of businesses alongside private estates. Postal is the biggest example. Why is this super unusual? I don't know if it's middle of the road, but I don't think it's socialism. Progressive ideas would be price controls on groceries to curb inflation, or seizing the means of production by making a major stake in a major food chain. (side note: I think it's hilarious that Trump is doing this with Intel and potentially Tiktok and few have labeled it as such).
NaomiLehman 1y ago
Free food

JumpCrisscross 1y ago

The fact that I was seeing Sliwa favourably speaks to the candidate quality in this race. > No dirt. Other that some stupid stuff he said while he was young Stupid stuff he credibly disavowed. I’m still blown away that after De Blasio he was the only one, when asked a foreign policy question, who said he’d put city priorities first.

chasil 1y ago
It is unfortunate that, after the Spanish Inquisition, Jewish refugees were welcome in Istanbul, but the current receptivity is so much colder. This is exactly the point where the historic tolerance of the middle east is most direly needed, but common ground in so many contexts is absent. I hope that we can put ourselves back together. We've seen the consequences this year of its lack.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  > where the historic tolerance of the middle east is most direly needed Sure. Broadly. But there is one correct answer a mayoral candidate could give on such an issue, and it’s the one Mamdani gave.
  - chasil 1y ago
    This is from Eisenhower's "Cross of Iron" speech: Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies—in the final sense—a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than thirty cities. It is: two electric power plants, each serving a town of sixty thousand population. It is: two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is: some fifty miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than eight thousand people. This—I repeat—is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/humanity-hanging-cross-iron https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/states-war/humanity-hanging...

nialv7 1y ago

well 40% still voted for Cuomo.

jen729w 1y ago
That 40% would have voted for a potato if it'd been wearing a red tie.
- jen20 1y ago
  Manifestly not - Cuomo ran as an independent, and a Republican did run.
  - kacesensitive 1y ago
    The Republicans in the Whitehouse told them to vote Cuomo
    - tartoran 1y ago
      I feel that Sliwa suggested Mamdami over Cuomo.
      - johnnyanmac 1y ago
        I remember hearing that Cuomo called to get an endorsement from Trump. I'm not sure how much of that went through, but it would explain why it seemed like Cuomo completely ate Silwa's votes. 7% even for NYC is absolutely below par for Republicans.

BobaFloutist 1y ago

From a distance it looks like Cuomo is also a generational talent when it comes to being a lazy, unmotivated campaigner.

evan_ 1y ago
Not to mention raising and spending money campaign money.

Taek 1y ago

It's not clear to me why a multigenerational dynasty specifically is a bad thing? Presumably the kids can learn from the parents, get connected, etc. Also, Mamdani's policies are incredibly controversial, that's why it's such big news. Lots of people predicting that Mamdani's criminal policies, economic policies, and lack of experienced staffers will lead the city to dark days.

dmbche 1y ago
You want your elected officials to "keep connections" accross generations? You also think New York can't find someone that's at least as competent as someone in a multigenerational dynasty?
- Taek 1y ago
  Based on what I saw in the debates, I'm sure there are lots of people in NYC more capable than anyone on the ballet. But yes, someone with connections is going to be more operationally effective than someone without them. If the leader isn't themselves well connected, they should at least have close advisors who do.
JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> not clear to me why a multigenerational dynasty specifically is a bad thing? Aristocracies are more stable but less efficient. That creates an incentive for corruption when growth inevitably stalls. Which leads to catastrophic instability.
- terminalshort 1y ago
  There is minimal incentive for corruption in a hereditary aristocracy. Status is determined by birthright rather than accumulation of money. And if you are a lord and do need money, you have the power to tax it legally anyway. So what incentive is there to make or take a bribe? It won't change who your parents are.
  - 1y ago

blitz_skull 1y ago

[flagged]

noobermin 1y ago
The open islamophobia is why a lot of people have cooled on the right since the 2024 election despite them having a more palatable opinion on crime.
- blitz_skull 1y ago
  I have no idea what you're trying to say.
  - nobody9999 11mo ago
    He's saying you're a bigoted piece of shit. Does that make it clear?
    - blitz_skull 11mo ago
      Oh no, a random nobody disagrees with me, what shall I do?
bix6 1y ago
California in free fall? Lol.
- text0404 1y ago
  Yeah, didn't you know we're in free fall because of checks notes the influx of Muslim Communists? If only New York had learned this one important lesson then they too wouldn't fall as far as checks notes again the state with the largest GDP of any state.
  - blitz_skull 1y ago
    Willful ignorance doesn't change the facts. California could fall off into the ocean and the United States wouldn't blink. But keep livin' in your bubble if that's what makes you happy.

aidenn0 1y ago

...Said less than 51% of voters

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
We can call winners this early. We can’t yet call margins.
- aidenn0 1y ago
  Good point; still mathematically less than 60% if you trust AP's estimated remaining vote count.
  - UncleMeat 1y ago
    Does it only count if he gets 60% of the vote?
kelnos 1y ago
The "said all of NYC" wasn't the best framing, but the entire post was about Democrats' choices, not everyone's. Also not sure what value your comment has. Interpret things charitably. Your "gotcha" is not at all that.
- aidenn0 1y ago
  Perhaps I misread the tone of the comment I replied to, but I have seen lots of "Everybody supports X" when X won with barely half of the votes, and less than half the voting-aged population voted.

parineum 1y ago

> his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road, and are aimed at leveling the playing field. That's not true at all. He is not even "middle of the road" in the Democratic party.

GenerWork 1y ago

>his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road. Rent control isn't middle of the road, it's 100% socialist. Same thing with city run grocery stores. He also wants to defund the police while replacing them with community outreach people, as well as raising the minimum wage to $30 in 5 years which is absolutely wild. None of this is middle of the road in any way, shape, or form.

noobermin 1y ago
He has moderated on the police funding issue, and the rent freeze is for already rent controlled apartments.
- GenerWork 1y ago
  >He has moderated on the police funding issue So he already backtracked on a core election promise even before he got elected? Doesn’t bode well for his supporters expectations going forward.
  - pkulak 1y ago
    Seems like before you’re elected is the perfect time to adjust policy positions. Or, really, any time you’re presented with new facts.
  - matsemann 1y ago
    What a weird take. Isn't it better that he says it before the election? I think you just have it out for him, and no matter what he does you will find a way it's wrong.
  - adrian17 1y ago
    As far as I know, “defunding the police” wasn’t a campaign promise, let alone a “core” one. It indeed was the opinion he had in the past (and you can argue about whether he still thinks that privately), but there are also many statements from the last several months that he’s explicitly _not_ running on that.
  - 1y ago

dralley 1y ago

> Mamdani. Millennial candidate. No dirt. Other that some stupid stuff he said while he was young, his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road, and are aimed at leveling the playing field. Look, Mamdani ran a good campaign, and if I was an NYC voter (I am not) I'd probably vote for him out of the options provided. However, this just is not true. Many of his policies are neither "common sense" nor "middle of the road". Especially not on education and dealing with the homeless and public transit. And lots of his dumb comments were from like 2 years ago, not 12 - he was not "young" when he said them.

peanuty1 1y ago
[flagged]
- dralley 1y ago
  1) "intifada" has not historically meant "peaceful resistance". It has referred to events like October 7th, and the 1st and 2nd intifadas which killed more people than the Troubles did in about 1/3rd as much time, etc. 2) Also dumb shit like "queer liberation means defund the police" and "when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the IDF"
  - griffzhowl 1y ago
    True that "intifada" doesn't imply peaceful, but it simply means "uprising" in Arabic. For example, the Warsaw ghetto uprising is called the Warsaw ghetto intifada in Arabic. Its central connotation is resistance to an oppressive regime.
  - whoooboyy 1y ago
    Why does queer liberation means defund the police sounds dumb to you? You know that for generations the police have been beating, arresting, and accosting queer people just because they are queer, right? A practice that continues to this day? (Just this year, Seattle police raided gay bars because they were gay bars) You know that defund is not the same as abolish, right? And that the nypd has an operating budget in the billions annually? You know that queer health care, particularly access to prophylaxis and safe facilities is woefully under funded, resulting in high homeless, violence, and drug abuse rates in the queer population right? And that when you put them all together you get, "taking money from the police, who have historically and contemporaneously abused queer people, and allocating those funds to the medical and social welfare of queer people would be liberatory". That sure as shit doesn't sound dumb to me, that sounds extremely reasonable to be honest given the context, history, and needs of the queer community.

peanuty1 1y ago

[flagged]

nobody9999 1y ago

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deleted 1y ago

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apparent 1y ago

> his policies are relatively common sense and middle of the road Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. And freezing rent for controlled units.

pauldelany 1y ago
Correct - common sense policies != common policies
- AnimalMuppet 1y ago
  Doesn't make them middle of the road, though.
cogman10 1y ago
> Free buses and free child care are not remotely common policies in the US. Ditto for govt-run grocery stores. While not common, free buses do exist throughout the US and Europe. Free childcare is uncommon. IDK where that actually exists. Government run stores is actually very common. Many states run the liquor stores. A few cities have government run grocery stores. Freezing the rent on rent controlled buildings isn't common but rent control itself it quite uncommon. It's probably the easiest for Mamdani to accomplish.
- zitsarethecure 1y ago
  New Mexico is experimenting with free child care. Canada has nationalized its own system and while it isn't free, it is heavily subsidized.
- OkayPhysicist 1y ago
  Free childcare for low income families is extremely common, even in the United States. Subsidizing childcare is even more common. And it's not that expensive, because spending tends to get offset by increased tax income and reduced consumption of other wellfare benefits (from parents who choose to re-enter the workforce). As for universal free childcare, I'm aware of it's existence in a number of places in Germany (Berlin, in particular), driven by having been an extremely popular public benefit in East Germany.

pjc50 1y ago

As a Brit who has been exposed to the blanket coverage of this on social media: Mamdani is going to be like Sadiq Khan. Popular with people in the city, while those outside run endless weird fantasy "news" scare stories because he's a Muslim.

CommanderData 1y ago
GBnews has been unrelenting and it's frankly worked to turn non-Londoners against London and Khan. It's disgusting they're allowed to vilify him so much without any accountability.
- jpfromlondon 1y ago
  as a proud Londoner I'd like to see him held accountable for his own lies and questionable behaviour.
  - pjc50 1y ago
    .. such as? Compared to previous mayor Boris Johnson?
    - tim333 1y ago
      Yeah likewise interested as a Londoner. The thing that annoys me the most is that by scapegoating Khan they avoid fixing the problems that are the responsibility of others. Like knife crime - the tories cut 1/3 of the police force, crime went up in London but also in the rest of the country but the papers are all lets slag Kahn for it which is jolly fun I guess but doesn't stop the stabbings and phone snatchings in a way that the central government which controls the laws and budgets could do.
tim333 1y ago
I'm a Londoner who voted for Khan. There's a difference in that contrary to all the scapegoat stuff in the right wing press, Khan has had largely sensible middle of of the road policies. And where he has deviated from the average, on air pollution, it's been stuff I'm in favour of - I have desire to get sick/die from that. Mamdani seems like a nice guy but some of his policies seem a bit bonkers - state owned retail outlets and the like.

debtta 1y ago

Don't forget: Eric Adams born 1960 Andrew Cuomo born 1957 Curtis Sliwa born 1954 Mamdani born 1991 On policing, on New York's relationship to Israel, on public transit, the so-called 'mainstream' is actually 'the average view of people over 60'.

sotix 1y ago
The median age in New York City is 36.8 years old[0]. [0]: https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?censusTopics=populationSexAgeDensity https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/explorer/cities/NYC?c...

npteljes 1y ago

I disagree with this. I mean, it's as straightforward for me as you wrote it. But, 1. It hasn't worked like this when they elected Trump for the second time. Back then Kamala should have been the only valid candidate, according to this thinking. 2. Mamdani got 1,036,051 votes and Cuomo got 854,995. This is not exactly "all of NYC" as you imply.

MRson 1y ago

[dead]

shagie 1y ago

For a time warp from The Onion - June 22, 2021 : De Blasio: ‘Well, Well, Well, Not So Easy To Find A Mayor That Doesn’t Suck Shit, Huh?’ https://theonion.com/de-blasio-well-well-well-not-so-easy-to-find-a-may-1847151201/ https://theonion.com/de-blasio-well-well-well-not-so-easy-to... I'd also call out October 17, 2025 : Zohran Mamdani Refuses To Share Plan For Making Rich Richer https://theonion.com/zohran-mamdani-refuses-to-share-plan-for-making-rich-richer/ https://theonion.com/zohran-mamdani-refuses-to-share-plan-fo...

AbstractH24 1y ago
It’ll be interesting to see the headlines the onions writing by summer 2026. For all I dislike him, Trump essentially squandered the political capital he had on things that are shiny, motivated by ego, and created clickbaity headlines that single out small subsets of the American populous. He could have done far far worse and less reversible things to America. We’re now at the start of the end of his presidency, with focus first turning to midterms and then his replacement. I don’t expect Mamdani to do much better with his political capital.
- api 1y ago
  I don’t know a ton about Mamdani but he doesn’t seem narcissistic. I agree with most of his goals but have serious doubts about the viability of the methods. We’ll see. My biggest doubts are around the idea of price controls, which almost always lead to perverse incentives. The economy finds a way to sneak in an effective price increase via other means. Either that or you create a landed gentry of sorts, or a “landed rentry” for rent control. You get a class of beneficiaries locked into place and nobody else can get in. I do like seeing different ideas get tried. I like experiments, and I think we should have more of them. The endless tape loop of 1980s-1990s Reagan/Clinton politics is clearly not addressing some glaring problems.
  - AbstractH24 1y ago
    While not a narcissist, I can’t tell how much he actually see this election as a stepping stone to higher office. Maybe even following in the footsteps of a one term senator… And I do think he’s adherent to a fairly narrowly defined set of left wing principles and ideologies. Like you, I agree there’s no harm in trying new things because there’s always what to learn. But I don’t exactly expect them to go well. Hope I’m wrong though and if nothing else it’s becoming incredibly clear we need a new generation of leaders in this country. To end this loop, like you said.

rsynnott 1y ago

It's kind of astonishing that they couldn't find a non-terrible establishment candidate, really. Like, they mightn't have won, but surely a boring establishment candidate would at least have beat Cuomo.

Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 1y ago

From wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Adams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Adams > In September 2024, a series of investigations into Adams's administration emerged. Adams was indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Adams pleaded not guilty to the charges. He alleged that the charges were retaliation for opposing the Biden administration's handling of the migrant crisis. In February 2025, the Department of Justice in the Donald Trump administration instructed federal prosecutors to drop charges against Adams. Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case against Adams on April 2, 2025