'Overcorrections': McBride on some Democrats' remarks on transgender people | The Conversation
For more than five decades, Joe Biden’s existence was not only incredibly public but busy — his waking hours spent surrounded by a coterie of devoted aides and strategists, his calendar filled with speaking engagements and meetings, his home a bustling and buzzing swarm of activity.
In “What It Takes,” Richard Ben Cramer’s magnum opus on the candidates who sought the presidency in 1988, he captures the scene in the Biden household on the eve of his campaign announcement: “there were typists upstairs, waiting, and gurus present for consultations, and Joe's parents were over, just to help out … there were a hundred media calls and a million staff and volunteer calls and VIP arrangements — train passes and hotel rooms, Wilmington cops, and state cops and Amtrak cops, the height of the podium (wrong, of course), money bigs with suggestions, food for the staff, people at the airport, people called and said ‘Is Joe there?’”
Ultimately, Biden had what it took to win the presidency.
Now, he’s on the other side of the mountain. And his life has entered a new phase that is quieter and smaller.
He’s staffed by only one or two aides and a small Secret Service detail. He holes up for hours at a time in Delaware working on his memoir with a new ghostwriter, while undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He flies commercial, an aide tells POLITICO, with little of the luxury or exclusivity that is often associated with former heads of state.
He’s still Amtrak Joe. But he’s also American Airlines Joe.
“He’s very in the wild,” a person familiar with Biden’s comings and goings told POLITICO. “His footprint is significantly smaller, and it’s sort of shocking.”
In quiet moments outside the Beltway, Biden is often greeted warmly by passersby offering handshakes.
But in Washington, his closest and most loyal advisers sit for closed-door depositions and transcribed interviews on the alleged “cover-up” of his decline and his use of an autopen as president. And as his own party’s still-developing 2028 primary bursts at the seams, Biden’s presidency is still something of a millstone around its neck.
That’s the split screen Biden steps into Thursday night, when he speaks at the closing gala of the National Bar Association’s Centennial Convention in Chicago. His remarks will center on “the progress we’ve made, and the important work that remains to further the cause of justice in America,” a person familiar tells POLITICO.
Biden’s post-presidency is already striking. His memoir sold for $10 million — a major sum, but tens of millions less than Barack Obama’s. At least one report has suggested he may be struggling to raise money for his presidential library, though a spokesperson described this characterization to POLITICO as “unfair.” This June, in San Diego, he spoke to SHRM25, a conference of human resource managers, telling them “thanks to you, the people in your workplace feel secure and respected. I think you underestimate what you do.”
In official Washington, there is little such expression of appreciation for the former president.
The former president still casts a long shadow over his party. In recent days, his former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had to answer for whether he said all he knew about Biden’s cognition in office. (“I told the truth, which is that he was old,” Buttigieg told NPR’s Steve Inskeep. “You could see that he was old.”) And had his former Vice President Kamala Harris actually run for California governor, the NYT noted, she would “have faced difficult questions about how much she knew about President Biden’s decline and whether she participated in shielding his diminished health from the public.”
Hours before Biden speaks in Chicago, Mike Donilon, his trusted aide of some four decades, will go behind closed doors to offer transcribed testimony for the House Oversight Committee.
That comes one day after former Biden aide Steve Ricchetti’s hourslong testimony in which he attacked Republicans’ “efforts to taint President Biden’s legacy with baseless assertions about President Biden’s mental health,” calling them “an obvious attempt to deflect from the chaos of this Administration’s first six months.”
Oversight Republicans were unfazed by the Biden aide’s accusation. In an appearance last night on Fox News, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) turned the focus back to Biden world’s insistence that the former president hadn’t experienced cognitive decline. “It’s almost like they’re a cult,” Comer said.
Biden, a son of the Senate who is respectful of congressional authority, has kept himself at a remove from the Oversight proceedings and the former aides who are testifying, receiving briefings from lawyers and aides after each session, two people familiar with Biden’s thinking told POLITICO.
“He’s really keeping himself at a distance — deliberately and intentionally — because he honors the oversight process,” one of those people said.
A Republican source familiar disputed this, telling POLITICO that during Wednesday’s transcribed interview, Ricchetti stated he had recent conversations with Biden regarding his legal strategy before the transcribed interview.
A person close to the Biden side outside the investigation said “being updated and being kept abreast on the investigations is far from being involved or putting pressure for a specific tactic for former staff.”
Still, Biden’s orbit views the Oversight Committee’s efforts as not having rated in the news cycle.
“It really hasn't been meaningfully breaking through for a wide array of reasons,” said the first person familiar with Biden’s thinking. “They're more or less trying to make the damning case that Joe Biden is and was old in office. … Everybody that has been interviewed knows there is no smoking gun. Everything that happened or didn’t happen was reported in the books. The reputational damage to some folks was already baked in, and there's nothing new.”
A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee disputed this. “Americans have witnessed President Biden’s cognitive decline with their own eyes, yet his inner circle continues to claim that everything is fine,” Jessica Collins told POLITICO. “The American people see through these denials, especially now, as President Biden’s doctor and some of his closest aides are pleading the Fifth to avoid self-incrimination. The Oversight Committee is currently conducting a thorough investigation to gather information through depositions and transcribed interviews, and will release a report of its findings upon conclusion."
Biden’s allies have also sometimes grimaced at his son Hunter Biden’s recent incursion into the news cycle, as when he sat down for more than three hours with Channel 5, went on an expletive-laden tear and suggested that his father’s disastrous debate performance in June 2024 was attributable to Ambien.
Was Hunter acting as his father’s anger translator, saying what the elder Biden wishes he could say but can’t?
“He probably thinks he is and thinks he is doing what is best and defending his father,” a former Biden White House official told POLITICO. “But it’s not helpful.”
A storm of clinical and critical tell-all books mostly behind him, Biden is now regularly writing his own book, according to an aide.
But he’s not doing it with Mark Zwonitzer, the writer who helped Biden with 2007’s “Promises to Keep” and 2017’s “Promise Me, Dad,” and decades earlier worked as a research assistant on Richard Ben Cramer’s “What It Takes.” A Biden Foundation spokesperson declined to say who was helping him craft his memoir this time around.
Biden’s smaller entourage now often includes just Annie Tomasini, Biden Foundation spokesperson Kelly Scully and a Secret Service detail.
That smaller footprint allows for some genuinely unscripted moments, members of Biden’s team tell POLITICO. While waiting for flights at major airports, he has posed for photos with other passengers and took the time to handwrite an encouraging note to a Boy Scout during one such interlude in Philadelphia.
Last month, at a Juneteenth celebration at the Reedy Chapel-AME Church in Galveston, Texas, the president who made it an official federal holiday celebrated with congregants, lingering for hours — doing a photo line, speaking with church leadership.
“We were there for three, four hours — it was a long program. And he wanted to stay,” a person traveling with him said. “Anyone who wanted to talk to him had the opportunity to talk to him.” Biden and his small entourage didn’t arrive back at their hotel, the Marriott Marquis in Houston, until after 11 p.m.
All of it recalls that vivid scene in Cramer’s book — the swirl of activity around Biden, the typists upstairs and the gurus present for consultations, the money bigs with suggestions and the people who called and asked “Is Joe there?"
The answer is yes. Joe is still here. But fewer people are around him now, and it’s far closer to the end of a political life than the beginning of one.
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U.S. President Donald Trump once again threatened to suspend trade talks with Canada, this time over Ottawa’s promise to recognize Palestinian statehood.
On Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that his country intends to recognize a Palestinian state ahead of September’s United Nations General Assembly, joining France and the U.K. on that path.
But Trump, despite acknowledging there is “real starvation” in Gaza on Monday, remains a staunch Israel ally. He argued earlier this week that recognizing Palestinian statehood would reward Hamas, the militant group behind the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” the president wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday night.
With a Friday deadline looming to strike a deal or face steep U.S. tariffs, negotiations between Canada and the U.S. have stalled, and no deal framework has been set.
POLITICO reported this week that U.S. officials have been recycling grievances at trade talks without offering a path forward, according to Canadian officials. In June, the White House pushed Canada into rescinding its planned digital services tax to unfreeze the talks.
Israel has been losing its international support over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is “on the brink of famine,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday.
Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,000 people and abducted 251 in their Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed around 60,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Canada, as well as France and the U.K., cited the suffering of civilians in Gaza as one of the reasons for recognizing Palestinian statehood now. All three countries also argued that Hamas must disarm and can play no role in any Palestinian state.
Since Trump returned to office, he has frequently trolled Ottawa by calling Canada the 51st state, threatening to annex it and referring to the former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
With help from Amira McKee
‘OUT OF STEP:’ Zohran Mamdani distanced himself from “defund the police” posts he made in 2020, saying today they were made “amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd.” He said multiple times that the posts were “clearly out of step” with his current view of policing and his campaign platform.
The Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City was speaking at a press conference held hours after he returned from an 11-day vacation to Uganda.
Mamdani has faced backlash over his past comments critical of the NYPD following the city’s deadliest mass shooting in 25 years, where four people, including an off-duty police officer, were killed in Midtown Manhattan.
“I am not defunding the police; I am not running to defund the police,” Mamdani told reporters today. “Over the course of this race, I’ve been very clear about my view of public safety and the critical role that the police have in creating that public safety.”
There was little the NYPD could have done to stop the shooter, who drove in from out of state and was in public only briefly before he began pulling the trigger. Still, the tragedy has resulted in an outpouring of support for the department and its members, and has raised questions about how Mamdani would lead the force as mayor, POLITICO reports.
Mamdani is returning to a city where polling shows him as the clear favorite, and he’ll try to maintain that lead through the tumult of a crowded general election in an unpredictable city. His opponents have homed in on his relatively limited political and management experience, and the past few days have served as a test of how the democratic socialist frontrunner would respond to a crisis — and the pressure that entails.
During the news conference, Mamdani stood with the Bangladeshi American Police Association, of which slain NYPD officer Didarul Islam was a member, and building service workers union 32BJ, which represented Aland Etienne, an office security guard who died in the attack.
Like other Democrats, Mamdani placed blame for the shooting on easy access to firearms.
“No matter how strong our gun laws are in this state, they are only as strong as the weakest laws in our nation,” he said. “I echo the call from Governor Hochul for a nationwide ban on assault rifles.”
Mamdani also slammed his opponent Andrew Cuomo for criticizing his prior calls to defund the police in the aftermath of the shooting, saying it was a way for Cuomo to “score such cynical political points.”
“We want to honor the New Yorkers who have been taken from us far too soon,” Mamdani said. “And yet, here we have a former governor calling every reporter he can find to speak about tweets. What kind of leadership is that?”
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said it was fair game.
“I liken that to every time there is a mass shooting, Republicans say it’s not the time to talk gun control,” he said in a statement. “This is very much the time to talk about what our candidates for mayor said then vs. now.” — Jeff Coltin & Jason Beeferman
A LONG FIGHT AHEAD FOR REDISTRICTING AMENDMENT: On the same morning that Texas Republicans unveiled a potential gerrymander to create five new Republican-friendly congressional seats, New York Democrats officially introduced a constitutional amendment that would let them make mid-decade changes to the Empire State’s maps.
But don’t expect any imminent or drastic action in New York, POLITICO Pro reported today. Any amendment couldn’t be approved any earlier than November 2027. That means any new lines wouldn’t take effect until 2028, even if they can avoid legal hiccups and court-ordered stays that spring.
And the new maps would still need to adhere to existing prohibitions on gerrymandering — so don’t expect districts combining Staten Island with Plattsburgh, as you might see in other states.
The amendment is sure to be at the center of an extremely expensive battle at the ballot box if it moves forward. A different proposal to change the redistricting process was defeated as a referendum in 2021 — a year with mayoral races that drove out more Democrats than can be expected in 2027.
“It’s the perfect type of legislation to beat at the ballot box,” state Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar said. “Frankly, it’s likely to turn out the vote and help us elect other officials.”
Democrats are hopeful they’ll be better prepared this time around, though.
“I would hope for a campaign from the national party, from the state party, from other interested parties,” Senate Deputy Leader Mike Gianaris said. “This is something with national implications, so I would hope there’d be a huge effort.” — Bill Mahoney
MAP FIGHT: Despite the severely limited menu of options for New York Democrats to redraw House lines before the 2026 midterm elections, Hochul today signaled she’s in ongoing talks over the issue.
In a statement to Playbook, Hochul blasted Texas GOP lawmakers for revising their House lines — a change that will add five additional seats Trump carried by double digits.
“We’re not going to sit by while Donald Trump and Texas Republicans try to steal this nation’s future,” she said. “I’ve been in active talks with local and national leaders, and in the coming days we’ll meet to align on our next move.”
Hochul has spoken with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffires about redistricting in New York, as red states — including Texas and Ohio — move forward with changing their maps this year.
Two state lawmakers have proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow New York to redistrict mid-decade, but such a change would not be in place soon enough to impact the high-stakes House races next year. — Nick Reisman
CHILD HEALTH CARE ROLLBACK: A new federal policy slated to take effect in 2027 will jeopardize health insurance coverage for more than 750,000 children in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said today.
The Democratic governor bashed President Donald Trump’s administration in a statement, calling the rollback of programs that provide continuous Medicaid coverage a “misguided policy” that “threatens the progress we’ve made in keeping young children connected to care,” POLITICO Pro’s Katelyn Cordero reports.
The federal government last year approved New York’s proposal for continuous Medicaid and Child Health Plus coverage for enrollees up to the age of 6. The state is now required to roll back that policy by 2027.
New York’s continuous coverage policy was implemented this year under a federal waiver. It requires continued access to health care for children regardless of changes to family income.
The waiver will not be revoked, but the Hochul administration received a letter from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicating that it will not be renewed in 2027.
“We will use every tool at our disposal to protect access to Medicaid and Child Health Plus for the more than 750,000 young children across New York State who depend on it for a healthy start in life,” Hochul said in her statement. — Katelyn Cordero
QUIT POLITICKIN’: Senate Republicans are decrying one of Hochul’s commissioners for using government resources to promote attacks against Republicans in D.C.
“We understand Governor Hochul is gearing up for a tough re-election, but the use of state resources to amplify partisan messaging must cease immediately,” the GOP state lawmakers wrote in a letter to Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance.
Guinn, who was appointed by Hochul to lead the office in 2023, penned an op-ed with Democratic state Sen. Roxanne Persaud criticizing the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Her agency — which is tasked with overseeing food, heat and cash assistance programs — then shared the opinion piece on its government website.
“If you are struggling to put enough food on the table and also struggling to find gainful employment, Republicans in Washington, including seven representing New York State, say you are on your own,” Guinn wrote in the piece, adding that the federal bill “cruelly slashes SNAP in ways that were previously unthinkable.”
In a separate letter sent to state lawmakers under government letterhead, she also decried how “actions by the federal GOP will likely lead to limited benefit access,” she wrote.
While Hochul freely uses her taxpayer-funded communications team to slam Republicans in Congress and the White House, many unelected commissioners in Albany steer clear of partisan attacks.
Senate Republicans are arguing that Guinn crossed a line: “These talking points are best left to the Democratic National Committee, not parroted by a state agency that performs vital public service,” they wrote in their letter.
Guinn’s office did not respond to a request for comment. — Jason Beeferman
— ALL AGAINST MAMDANI: Five separate groups have emerged, all planning to raise millions of dollars to defeat Mamdani. (The New York Times)
— OLD VS. NEW: 26-year-old Liam Elkind is launching a primary challenge to 78-year-old Rep. Jerry Nadler, saying he no longer has the energy nor mindset for the job. (CNN)
— BRONX CASINO BID IS ALIVE: The mayor vetoed a measure from the City Council that some thought permanently ended the chances of a Bronx casino. (POLITICO Pro)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Stefan H., born at 322 ppmv mag das.
Texas Republicans would create five House seats that President Donald Trump carried by 10 or more points in November through a redrawn Congressional map to be released Wednesday, according to a person close to the process who was granted anonymity to discuss a map not yet public.
Four of the GOP’s pickup opportunities reside in majority-Hispanic districts.
The new map — created at Trump’s urging — stands to upend the midterms next year and give Republicans an opportunity to cling to their razor-thin House majority. The GOP’s success depends on the party maintaining its gains among Hispanic voters, a demographic shift that helped Trump reclaim the White House. The contours of the new map were first reported by Punchbowl News.
The 30 -day special session called by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is scheduled to end on Aug. 19, which gives state lawmakers a few weeks to finish the process.
Congressional maps are redesigned at least once a decade, in response to the U.S. Census in what is typically a politically rife process. Ohio is also redrawing its maps ahead of 2026, and Democrats across the country are mulling ways to fight this existential threat as they grasp for control over the House next year.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies will be in Austin on Wednesday to meet with Democratic Texas lawmakers to discuss how to respond to the GOP‘s redistricting project. Democrats are debating walking out of the 30-day special session, which would deny Republicans the quorum necessary to approve the maps.
Though incumbent-versus-incumbent battles are often a result of redistricting, the person said the pending map is not expected to create any Republican primaries. The person added that the new map creates smaller geographical districts and splits fewer counties than the one in place.
Republicans are expected to reveal the Congressional lines as early as Wednesday afternoon. Trump would have carried three of the new GOP districts by 10 points, and the other two by more than 15, the person said.
Democratic governors are also threatening their own mid-cycle efforts, which they have promised to carry out if Texas pushes forward. California and New York are the states most likely to take action, but they face legal and political obstacles. Democrats are expected to mount legal challenges once the legislature approves the new map, and the party is already working to raise funds to combat the process.
So far the House Majority PAC — the leading fundraising arm for Congressional Democrats — has committed to spend $20 million fighting the effort and former President Barack Obama is headlining a fundraiser next month in Martha’s Vineyard alongside his former attorney general, Eric Holder, to defeat the GOP’s redistricting plans.
Stefan H., born at 322 ppmv mag das.
Dazu habe ich in meinem Post vorhin schon etwas geschrieben.
loma.ml/display/373ebf56-5e2bb…
Dänemark schlägt wieder eine weitreichende verpflichtende Chatkontrolle vor. Der Juristische Dienst des Rats bezeichnet auch diesen Vorschlag als rechtswidrig. Ob das Gesetz noch kommt, könnte von Deutschland und Frankreich abhängen.
Dazu habe ich vorhin schon etwas in meinem Post geschrieben.
digitalcourage.social/@Terrane…
Terranerin 🖖 ✨ 🌎 (@Terranerin@digitalcourage.social)
Die #Chatkontrolle ist ein massiver Angriff auf die #Grundrechte und #Freiheitsrechte aller Bürger. #Massenüberwachung führt nicht zu mehr #Sicherheit, im Gegenteil.digitalcourage.social
With help from Amira McKee
CUOMO CONUNDRUM: Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani looks to be cruising toward victory, capturing 50 percent of the vote in a new general election poll of the mayor’s race paid for by his allies.
In the five-way contest, Andrew Cuomo trailed him with 22 percent, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa came in third at 13 percent and Mayor Eric Adams captured 7 percent of the vote among likely voters. Attorney Jim Walden received 1 percent.
“Our independent poll — the first in this cycle to be offered in four languages and to drill down into national origin and religious denomination — makes one thing clear: Black union households, young Jews, South Asians, East Asians, Latinos, and New Yorkers in every income bracket are all on the same Zohran Mamdani bus, and it’s headed in the direction of the Democratic Party’s future,” said Amit Singh Bagga, the principal of Public Progress Solutions and a veteran of federal, city, and state government.
Bagga’s firm designed and analyzed the poll along with Adam Carlson’s Zenith Research. It was funded through private donations to Bagga, who advised Mamdani’s campaign during the primary on setting up an administration, and was fielded by Verasight.
It quizzed 1,453 registered voters — 1,021 of whom were “likely” voters — and was conducted between July 16 and 24, concluding four days before a gunman walked into a Midtown Manhattan office building on Monday and killed four people, including one NYPD officer.
Mamdani was celebrating his wedding in Uganda at the time. He’s scheduled to be back in the city Wednesday morning.
According to the poll, even if the former governor could achieve his unlikely goal of neutralizing the rest of the field to face Mamdani one-on-one, the democratic socialist assemblymember is still up 52-40 in a head-to-head matchup with likely voters. But Mamdani’s head-to-head lead shrinks to just 3 points with registered voters.
And it’d be worse for Adams — Mamdani clocks him 59-32 with likely voters and 55-32 with registered voters.
Three months out from the Nov. 4 election, Mamdani is in a commanding position. Just 32 percent of likely voters say they would not consider voting for him, while Cuomo is at 60 percent and Adams at 68 percent.
“With a majority of voters saying they wouldn't even consider voting for Cuomo, Adams' net favorability being lower than Trump's, and Sliwa mired in the low teens, it's hard to see how anyone can put a serious scare into Mamdani in a split field,” Carlson said in a statement.
The survey is the first significant public poll after the ex-governor announced he’d mount a campaign after losing the primary.
Respondents were surveyed via a hybrid online panel, the firms said. The poll had a 3.1 percentage point margin of error.
Cuomo took issue with the poll’s model assumption that Mamdani’s campaign would boost turnout among younger and college-educated voters as it did in the primary.
“The only thing that I think is material for accuracy is what the poll says about the registered voters,” Cuomo told Playbook. “As we learned in the primary, when you’re assuming turnout levels, there are many variables. In the primary, they underestimated the number of young people. You have to make another set of assumptions on the general. Some people will assume you’re going to see a young voter surge. Some people believe you’re going to see an anti-socialist surge. Some people think you’re going to see a pro-Israel surge. So who knows?”
Mamdani still holds a 16-point lead over Cuomo among registered voters, according to the poll. Mamdani gets 42 percent in a five-way race, followed by Cuomo at 26, Sliwa at 12, Adams at 7 and Walden at 1. — Jeff Coltin & Jason Beeferman
HEASTIE WILL VOTE DEMOCRAT (WE ASSUME): Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie implied he is likely to vote for Mamdani — but continues to avoid explicitly saying the democratic socialist will earn a spot on his ballot.
“Do we ask people who they vote for?” Heastie quipped when a reporter asked him this afternoon who he would vote for in the general election. “Listen, I'm a Democrat, and I support Democrats. I've never voted for someone that’s not a Democrat.”
The speaker was in Schenectady today for a visit to a local musical theater in need of state investment.
When asked if his record of voting strictly along the Democratic line could change for the upcoming mayoral election, Heastie chuckled. After a brief silence, his press aide cut in to solicit other questions from reporters.
The speaker did say he is in frequent contact with the mayoral nominee.
“Zohran and I have had loads of communications,” Heastie said. “What people have to understand is that when I'm the speaker of [a] body, I have to communicate concerns of the body, and Zohran and I have communicated what I think he needs to do to get me there.” — Jason Beeferman
GUN CONTROL PLEAS: New York Democrats pleaded for Congress to approve tighter gun control laws in the wake of a Midtown shooting that left six people dead — including an NYPD officer.
There’s little chance any measures will pass given Republicans holding all levers of power in Washington.
Yet Gov. Kathy Hochul and Heastie on Tuesday urged national action — a tacit acknowledgement that the state’s comparatively strict gun laws can’t stop someone obtaining a weapon in another state. The alleged shooter reportedly traveled to New York from Nevada.
“We need a national awakening here. People need to be talking about this once again and it shouldn't just happen in the wake of a tragedy like this. It should be an ongoing conversation where we force the Republicans to understand lives could be saved if we only do what's smart and common sense,” Hochul told CNN.
The governor pushed through a package of gun law changes after the U.S. Supreme Court determined New York’s concealed carry measure was unconstitutional. In the wake of a Buffalo mass shooting in 2022, Hochul won approval of tighter restrictions on gun ownership, including raising the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21.
Heastie echoed Hochul’s sentiment with reporters in Schenectady.
“When is this country going to wake up on allowing citizens to have these military-style weapons?” he said. “No other industrial nation in this world allows the citizens to do it.” — Nick Reisman
AMEND TO THAT: Heastie is ready to change New York’s redistricting laws as red states move this year to redraw their House lines.
“At this point we should look to try to see what we can do to counteract Republican actions,” Heastie told reporters today.
There are very few options for New York Democrats to impact next year’s election, though, even as Hochul last week signaled she is open to making changes to the state’s House lines.
One potential long-term response is a constitutional amendment — a multi-year effort that ends with a voter referendum — that would allow New York to redistrict in the middle of the decade if another state undertakes the process.
Heastie said he is open to passing the measure, which was introduced by state Sen. Mike Gianaris and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, POLITICO first reported on Monday.
“It doesn’t have to be done now; it can be done in the following year,” he added. — Nick Reisman
DELGADO WANTS SPECIAL SESSION: Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, a gubernatorial primary candidate, is calling for the state Legislature to hold a special session to protect against incoming federal cuts — but Heastie indicated an early return to Albany for lawmakers is unlikely.
Delgado is slated to appear with state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymembers George Alvarez, Amanda Septimo, Phara Souffrant Forrest and Claire Valdez on Thursday in Manhattan to make a public plea for a special session.
It’s a sign of support from the group of lefty lawmakers even as the vast majority of Democratic lawmakers are leery of backing the lieutenant governor over Hochul.
The event is organized by Citizen Action, VOCAL-NY, Make the Road and other left-leaning advocacy groups.
Still, Heastie indicated this afternoon a special session is unlikely.
“We haven't had any discussions about that,” he said.
While it’s early, Heastie said his “biggest priority” for the upcoming legislative session will be to “limit as best we can the damage that Republicans have done to us that they keep trying to sugarcoat.” — Jason Beeferman
— SINCE 2000: The mass shooting in a Midtown building Monday night was New York’s deadliest shooting in 25 years. (New York Times)
— CONTESTED BALLOTS: The New York City Board of Elections is set to certify the results of a GOP primary for a Brooklyn City Council seat Tuesday amid allegations of voter fraud. (New York Daily News)
— ‘YOU AND YOUR EGO’: Cuomo slammed Adams as a “spoiler” driven by his own ego while speaking with reporters at the Columbian Day Parade. (New York Post)
— MTA OUTAGE: A slew of subway lines were delayed and suspended today as a power outage wreaked havoc on the system. (Gothamist)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Sometimes name recognition isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Just ask Geoffrey Epstein.
Epstein, who’s running for mayor in Framingham, Massachusetts, is — obviously — a different one from the disgraced late New York financier Jeffrey Epstein, who is back in the headlines as Republicans wrestle with each other over the release of documents related to his trafficking of underage girls.
But the shared name does draw some comments from people online pleading with him to “show us the list,” Geoffrey Epstein said. Take one Redditor, who recently posted a photo of an Epstein for Mayor mailer under the header, “Is this guy for real?” Other commenters, familiar with the former Framingham School Committee member, offered support: “He’s got good ideas about the city’s finances,” wrote one.
The Framingham mayoral hopeful — who goes by Geoff — says it’s not much of an issue among locals, who know him from his work with public schools.
“No one locally cares about that at all,” said Epstein, a former theoretical physics professor who moved to the U.S. from Australia decades ago. Among the abundance of differences between the two: “He's a dead American, and I'm an alive Australian,” Epstein said.
Epstein, who served on the school committees in both Newton and Framingham, both major Boston suburbs, got in the race to tackle problems he sees the city facing. His campaign, he said, is focused on education, infrastructure and environmental action, and he has no shortage of solutions he’s pitching — from expanding solar installations on school roofs and in school parking lots, to shifting more of the city’s budget toward education.
He’ll face a demanding fight against incumbent Mayor Charlie Sisitsky, who had more than $61,000 in his campaign coffers as of last month, compared to Epstein’s roughly $5,000.
Luckily for Epstein, a tough name doesn’t necessarily tank a campaign. Look at Harvey Epstein, the New York state assemblymember, whose name unfortunately evokes two of New York’s “most notorious sex perverts,” as comedian John Mulaney put it in a spoof campaign ad on “Saturday Night Live.”
That Epstein recently won the Democratic primary for a New York City Council seat, spoiling the attempted political comeback of former Rep. Anthony Weiner— yet another notorious sexual miscreant — in the process.
Harvey’s tip: “My advice to Geoffrey would be to lead with your values and who you are as a candidate,” the New York Epstein said over the phone. “People will support you if you do the work and follow through.”
This reporting first appeared in Massachusetts Playbook. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday.
Radix-Häschen mag das.
Und ich dachte es gäbe schon genug Gesetze* die die Pressefreiheit und den Datenschutz regeln.
Aber solange Polizeikräfte ungeachtet dessen ungestraft "Fakten vor Ort" schaffen können... 😒
* also im Prinzip...🙄
Roy Cooper raised $3.4 million in the first 24 hours of his Senate campaign — a record-breaking sum for the former North Carolina governor in one of the most competitive upcoming Senate races.
The fundraising haul, shared first with POLITICO, includes more than $2.6 million raised directly to Cooper’s campaign account, with 95 percent of those donations totaling $100 or less, according to his team. The former governor raised another $900,000 into joint fundraising committees with the party, which allows for bigger contributions.
Cooper is likely to face Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who will launch his own Senate bid in the coming days with the backing of President Donald Trump. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced his plans not to seek reelection last month, after clashing with Trump over passage of his megabill that Tillis voted against.
North Carolina represents Democrats’ best offensive opportunity for the Senate, a battleground state the former governor has won twice with Trump on the ticket. Cooper, the party’s top recruit, was expected to bring in big cash for the race, after growing a national fundraising network during his stint as Democratic Governors Association chair. Whatley, who took over the RNC last year, has built his own national donor relationships, raising expectations that the race will be one of the most expensive in 2026.
Cooper’s first-day total cracks a Senate Democratic candidate record set by Amy McGrath, a fundraising juggernaut, who nonetheless failed to unseat Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020. McGrath raised $2.5 million in her first 24 hours as a candidate.
Benjamin Held mag das.
Project 2025 architect Paul Dans on Monday is launching a bid to primary Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, joining an increasingly crowded field.
“What we’ve done with Project 2025 is really change the game in terms of closing the door on the progressive era,” Dans told the Associated Press. ”If you look at where the chokepoint is, it’s the United States Senate. That’s the headwaters of the swamp.”
Dans on Monday morning also reposted the Associated Press’ story announcing his South Carolina senate primary challenge, saying “Have some news this morning.”
Dans worked in the White House during President Donald Trump’s first term. His bid may present a unique challenge for Graham, who — though he has already secured Trump’s endorsement — has found himself at odds with the president on several occasions. In 2024, after Graham urged Trump to focus more on policy during his reelection campaign, Trump responded he doesn’t “care what he says.”
“Lindsey wouldn’t be elected if I didn’t endorse him,” Trump said.
One of the leading voices on Project 2025, Dans told the AP he expects to have the support of the project’s allies as well as some of Trump’s supporters.
Graham is seeking his fifth term as Republicans attempt to hold onto their 53-47 majority in the Senate during the 2026 midterms. Dans said it’s “time to show him the door.” Graham did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dans will officially announce his campaign at a Charleston event Wednesday.
Project 2025, the 900-page set of conservative policy proposals, dominated conversations during the 2024 presidential election. Though Trump insisted the plan — created by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation — was unrelated to his campaign, many of its architects, including Dans, have been involved with the Trump administration at some point or another.
Food dye and ADHD: FDA commissioner says listen to parents | The Conversation
Ukraine News: Russlands Verkehrsminister nach Entlassung tot gefunden
Warum Roman Starowoit von Kremlchef Putin entlassen wurde, ist nicht öffentlich bekannt. Der Tod werde untersucht.Julia Bergmann (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
USA News: Trump: Höhere Zölle treten vom 1. August an in Kraft
Der US-Präsident droht zudem Ländern, die sich der seiner Auffassung nach „antiamerikanischen Politik“ der Brics-Staaten anschließen. Sie sollen zusätzliche Strafzölle zahlen müssen.Kassian Stroh (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Hamas übermittelt „positive Antwort“ zu Feuerpause
Die islamistische Organisation will einer Mitteilung zufolge über den amerikanischen Vorschlag für eine Waffenruhe im Gazastreifen verhandeln.Julia Bergmann (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
90 Prozent weniger Emissionen bis 2040: EU verwässert Ambitionen beim Klimaschutz
Der Ausstoß von Treibhausgasen soll bis 2040 um 90 Prozent sinken, gesetzlich vorgeschrieben. Doch unter politischem Druck macht die EU-Kommission das Ziel weicher, als es Wissenschaftler empfehlen.Jan Diesteldorf (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Die gar nicht so dunklen Abgründe
Segeln wir in die Dunkelheit menschlicher Abgründe? Nein. Wir segeln in Abgründe, aber diese Abgründe sind gleißend hell. Man muss nur das Licht anknipsen im Horror-Express, den man in die hinterste Ecke des Kellers verbannt hat. Das Schild darauf lautet "1933 bis 1945". Davor lehnt ein Banner: "Nie wieder Krieg, nie wieder Faschismus!" Niemand wäre auf die Idee gekommen zu sagen: "Ihr müsst wieder Krieg führen, wenn ihr die Wiederholung des Faschismus verhindern wollt. Denn die Geister aus dieser Geisterbahn leben noch. Und sie haben sich erneut materialisiert! Erschreckenderweise vor allem in den Nachkommen der Opfer von damals. In Russen und Israelis und sie nutzen diesen nach mindestens zwei Generationen verjährten Opferstatus um sich nicht nur in einen Mantel der Unangreifbarkeit zu hüllen, sondern sogar um Hilfe zu erheischen bei ihren Verbrechen. Doch damit nicht genug. Sie haben einen dritten im Bunde gefunden. Den führenden Mitstreiter gegen die Verbrechen von damals: Die USA.
Und es ist so, als hätten sie alle aus den Verbrechen von damals gelernt. Nicht etwa wie man verhindert, dass sie erneut begangen werden. Nein, man hat gelernt, sie auf die heutige Zeit anzuwenden. Alles worüber sie selbst in Nürnberg zu Gericht saßen. Verbrechen gegen den Frieden, Kriegsverbrechen und Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit.
Man kann Adornos "Es gibt kein richtiges Leben im falschen" auch darauf herunterbrechen, dass Unrecht nie Unrecht legitimieren kann. Verbrechen keine Verbrechen. Schon gar nicht, wenn sich die neuen Verbrechen nicht als Rache gegen die Täter von damals richten, sondern gegen Dritte. Bestenfalls wird dieser Zusammenhang fadenscheinig konstruiert. So wie die angeblich von Nazis beherrschte Ukraine. Da ist man dann ganz schnell im Bereich der Spiegelung, die kein Land so beherrscht und nutzt wie die Sowjetunion und ihr selbsternannter Rechtsnachfolger Russland. Vom Kreml und seinen nationalen und internationalen Propagandaoutlets werden in den politischen oder militärischen Gegner so zuverlässig eigene Motive, Absichten und Taten hineinprojiziert, vom Kindermord bis zum Atomprogramm, dass man im Umkehrschluss genau bestimmen kann, was die russische Führung getan hat, tut oder beabsichtigt zu tun.
Und alle drei Staaten haben eine herausragende imperialistische Tradition. "The land of the free", das gerade die Freiheitsstatue, die alle Verfolgten strahlend empfing, nach El Salvador deportiert, wurde auf den Leichen von Millionen Indianern errichtet, denen man das Land raubte, das man anderen großherzig anbot. Und die weltweite Verteidigung von Freiheit und Demokratie ging nicht selten mit Eigennutz und Diktatorenunterstützung einher. Und die russiche Geschichte, von der Kiewer Rus bis zu einem Reich, das nicht nur Teile Europas, sondern den halben asiatischen Kontinent einnimmt, ist nicht weniger blutbesudelt. Und Israel? Vor rund 3300 Jahren wurde Kanaan blutigst von den Israeliten erobert. Vor rund 2700 Jahren wurden sie dort wieder vertrieben. Als Juden begannen in größeren Zahlen in Palästina einzuwandern und dort schließlich einen Staat gründen wollten, lebten dort ungefähr dreißigmal so viele arabische Bewohner wie jüdische. Was gibt es für eine Rechtfertigung, nach 3000 Jahren wieder Anspruch auf ein Land zu erheben?! Man muss die Manifestation der Masseneinwanderung und Landnahme wohl rechtlich akzeptieren, soweit sie von der UN unter dem Eindruck des Holocausts als Staatsgründung besiegelt wurde. Eine moralische Legitimation kann aber weder der Glaube sein, Anspruch auf das Land zu haben, noch eine vorangegangene Eroberung, noch der überlebte Genozid. Im Gegenzug hätte Israel zumindest auch einen Palästinenserstaat zu akzeptieren. Aktuell kann man allerdings auch dort von einer Spiegelung reden. Das was Israel jahrzehntelang dem Iran und seinen Terrortruppen vorgeworfen hat, nämlich eine eliminatorische Politik, betreibt jetzt Israel. Netanjahus Minister Smotrich hat es wörtlich genauso formuliert: Israelische Souveräntität "from the river to the sea". Ein Echo der palästinensischen Forderung, die in Deutschland unter Strafe steht.
Niemand ist ein besserer Mensch, weil er Deutscher oder Amerikaner ist, Muslim oder Jude oder gar einer herbeifantasierten Rasse angehört. Wir sind bessere Menschen, wenn wir uns an ethische Grundsätze halten. Und die Grenzen dieses Verhaltens verlaufen nie entlang von Grenzen, sondern quer durch Staaten und Völker. Auch wenn das unethische Verhalten von Staaten phasenweise institutionalisiert wird. Der Anspruch auf ethisches Verhalten hat allen Menschen und allen Staaten zu gelten. Ohne Ausnahme!
Doch zurück zum Horrorexpress. Seine Stationen heißen nicht nur Machtergreifung, Kristallnacht, Mauthausen, Auschwitz, Einmarsch in Polen und Einmarsch in Russland.
Seine Stationen heißen unter anderem Entlassung jüdischer Beamter, Entzug der Zulassung jüdischer Rechtanwälte, Ausschluss jüdischer Sportler aus Vereinen, Verlust ärztlicher Zulassungen, Widerruf von Einbürgerungen, Auftrittsverbot jüdischer Künstler, Prüfungsausschluss jüdischer Studenten, Ausschluss jüdischer Journalisten, Ausschluss aus betrieblichen Führungspositionen, Rassegesetze, Entzug des Erbrechts, Vermögensanmeldungen, Kennkarte J, Umbenennung von jüdischen Straßennahmen, "Sühneleistung" für Pogrome, Gewerbeverbot, temporäres Aufenthaltsverbot im öffentlichen Raum, Zwangsverkauf von Gewerbebetrieben, Entzug von Führerscheinen, Berufsverbot für Ärzte, Radioverbot, Kündigung der Telefonanschlüsse, Büchereiverbot, Judensternpflicht, Ausreiseverbot, Aberkennung der Staatsbürgerschaft, erste Deportationen. Das alles passierte lange vor der Wannseekonferenz. Und Vergleichbares lesen, hören und sehen wir heute, bezogen auf Ukrainer:innen, aus dem Donbass, aber vor allem täglich aus den USA. Bezogen auf Migranten, Greencard-Besitzer, Schwarze, Muslime, LGBTIs oder Frauen: Entlassungen aus Führungspositionen und Behörden, Ausschluss aus Sportvereinen, Ausschluss vom Militärdienst, Entfernung aus Gedenk- und Erinnerungsstätten und Archiven, Ausschluss aus der Sozialversicherung, Entzug des Aufenthaltsrechts, Entzug der Staatsbürgerschaft, Deportation von Staatsbürgern, die falsche Gesinnung reicht für die Deportation, Verhaftungen und Deportationen im Gestapo-Stil, "Säuberung" von Bibliotheken, Ignorieren von Gerichtsurteilen, Angriffe auf nicht genehme Justiz und Angriffe auf und Ausschluss und Gleichschaltung von Medien.
Das Bedrohlichste dabei: Die Externalisierung der Deportationen. An Privatunternehmen wie Blackwater und in andere Staaten, die nicht unter die nationale Jurisdiktion fallen. So wie die Vernichtungslager des Hitler-Regimes in Polen. Und das lässt Schlimmstes befürchten! Es ist eine Milchmädchenrechnung, dass ein Regime, dass in wenigen Wochen alle staatlichen Ausgaben gen Null fährt, während es sich selbst die Taschen vollstopft, nicht lange für die Unterbringung Hunderttausender bezahlen wird. Man wir sie umbringen lassen! Erst werden ein paar verlorengehen in der Bürokratie und wenn man sich daran gewöhnt hat, werden es beständig mehr werden. Und ich wage noch eine Prognose: Ein gemeinsamer Krieg Israels und der USA gegen den Iran ist eine beschlossene Sache. Verhandlungen werden nur noch alibimäßig geführt.
Genauso wie G. W. Bush noch mit dem Irak verhandeln ließ, als der Krieg schon längst beschlossen war. Für Typen wie Trump, Musk, Putin und Netanjahu ist ein Menschenleben weniger wert als ein Fliegenschiss. Wie ein Psychologe bei den Nürnberger Prozessen sagte: Faschismus ist letztlich nichts anderes als das völlige Fehlen von Empathie. Hannah Arendt stellte fest: Das Böse ist banal. Und Hannah Arendt lieferte auch die Erklärung, warum dieses empathiebefreite Böse so erfolgreich ist: "Der ideale Untertan totalitärer Herrschaft ist nicht der überzeugte Nazi oder engagierte Kommunist, sondern Menschen, für die der Unterschied zwischen Fakten und Fiktion, wahr und falsch, nicht länger existiert." Und das ist genau die Sorte Menschen, die heute wieder regemäßig trommelnd und trompetend durch österreichische und sächsische Kleinstädte ziehen. Erst gegen die "Coronadiktatur", dann für mehr CO2 zum Wohle der Wälder und jetzt für "Frieden mit Russland".
Bürgerkrieg oder Militärputsch?
Wissenschaftler verlassen die USA wegen Trump: „Es wird zu einem Bürgerkrieg kommen“
Drei prominente Forscher kehren den USA den Rücken und wandern nach Kanada aus. Sie stufen das Land als faschistisch ein und warnen vor Zensur.www.fr.de
Stalin und Mao wären begeistert!
Trump's new loyalty test: "golden Trump bust lapel pins" - Boing Boing
Members of Trump's cabinet, as well as Congresspeople and Senators, are being instructed to wear a tribute to their inglorious, convicted felon leader.Jason Weisberger (Happy Mutants, LLC.)
Elektro - Steyr Traktor 💚
Der Stromtraktor aus dem Burgenland
Heinz Schrödl hat den legendären 15er Steyr zerlegt und völlig neu zusammengebaut: mit Elektroantrieb und einem Drehmoment, dass die Reifen durchdrehenDER STANDARD
N. E. Felibata 👽 mag das.
Trumps neue Zölle
Thema Ausländerkriminalität
Statistik zeigt verzerrtes Bild: Sind Ausländer wirklich krimineller als Deutsche?
Seit Jahren sind Nichtdeutsche in der Kriminalstatistik überrepräsentiert. Das heißt jedoch nicht, dass sie mehr Straftaten begehen als Deutsche. "Die Ergebnisse sind verzerrt", sagt Kriminologin Susann Prätor und erklärt, woran das liegt.n-tv NACHRICHTEN
Die längste Rede im US-Senat
The New York Times (@nytimes.com)
Senator Cory Booker, his voice still booming after more than a day spent on the Senate floor railing against the Trump administration, surpassed Strom Thurmond for the longest Senate speech on record, in an act of astonishing stamina that he framed a…Bluesky Social
Und ...
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
Simsiron
Als Antwort auf Netzpolitik|inoffiziell • • •