Tag: democratic socialists

Zohran Mamdani Appoints Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice, Pledges to Govern New York City as a Socialist

Mayor Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor and the youngest in over a century when he was sworn in using a Quran. He used his inauguration to affirm he will govern as a democratic socialist, speaking before thousands outside City Hall alongside Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mamdani pledged to focus his administration on working-class New Yorkers and said he would not abandon his principles despite criticism, framing New York as a proving ground for democratic socialist governance with an agenda centered on safety, affordability, and expanded public services funded by higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.

It is ironic that he claims to help the working class by raising taxes. He also says he is focused on public safety, even as he has opposed policing and the incarceration of convicted criminals.

Mamdani began his first day by signing five executive orders. The first repealed all executive actions issued by former Mayor Eric Adams after Adams was federally indicted. The second appointed his five deputy mayors, establishing his democratic socialist administration.

For first deputy mayor, he chose Dean Fuleihan, 74, a Lebanese American who previously served as first deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio. Fuleihan oversaw the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars in city funds to Universal Pre-K and early childhood education, significantly expanding pre-kindergarten access across New York City. To fund these social programs, the city budget grew from $72 billion to $85 billion, supporting affordable housing initiatives and other social equity programs.

The new deputy mayor for housing and planning is Leila Bozorg, who previously served as Eric Adams’s executive director of housing and played a key role in negotiating the City of Yes housing rezoning policy.

The initiative includes $5 billion in total investment, with $1 billion from state funding and $1 billion from the city allocated for housing capital. Key components include the Universal Affordability Preference, which provides a 20 percent density bonus for projects that dedicate additional space to permanently affordable housing for households earning 60 percent of the Area Median Income.

The program permits three- to five-story apartment buildings in low-density residential districts near public transit, while requiring that at least 20 percent of units in developments with 50 or more apartments be permanently affordable.

Julie Su, who served as acting U.S. Labor Secretary under Biden and California’s labor secretary from 2019-2021 but was not confirmed by the Senate despite two attempts, became Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice in a newly created role. Helen Arteaga Landaverde, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and the first Latina to serve as CEO of Elmhurst Hospital, became Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.

Julia Kerson, previously deputy director of infrastructure under Governor Hochul and a former MTA vice president, became Deputy Mayor for Operations.

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IDIOTS: Zohran Mamdani Supporters Chant ‘Tax the Rich’ as Bernie ‘Three Houses’ Sanders Speaks

As Bernie Sanders was speaking at Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration on Thursday, a number of people in the crowd broke into a chant of ‘tax the rich.’

The stupidity on display here is appalling. Do these people really believe that their lives will improve if the government forcefully takes more money away from other people? Do they think the New York City government is going to take money from others and give it to them? Do they honestly believe that if ‘the rich’ are forced to pay more in taxes, it is going to fund programs that will benefit them?

This is the politics of envy, plain and simple.

The New York Post reports:

‘Tax the rich’ chant breaks out as Bernie Sanders swears in NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani

A raucous chant of “tax the rich” broke out as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders blasted the wealthy and called out “hatred and divisiveness” before swearing in fellow democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor.

“At a time in our country’s history when we are seeing too much hatred, too much divisiveness and too much injustice, thank you for electing Zohran Mamdani as your mayor,” Sanders said outside City Hall.

He then argued that Mamdani’s socialist agenda, including free buses and taxing the rich was not “radical,” sparking the chant.

After Sanders administered the ceremonial oath of office to Mamdani, the new mayor addressed the crowd, saying he planned to govern “expansively and audaciously.”

For too long, he argued, New York belonged to the “wealthy and well connected,” but no longer, Mamdani vowed.

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Zohran’s Plan to Quickly Destroy Housing in New York City

Mamdani’s flagship housing policy has been to completely freeze rents on all rent-stabilized housing, which already limits how much landlords can raise rents.

It looks like he will regulate landlords into expropriation.

Far-left community organizer Cea Weaver worked for Housing Justice for All, a far-left organization also known as the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance. She also heads the New York State Tenant Bloc.

She is planning the housing policies.

“Tenants are half the state and a majority in every major city. United, we have the power to reclaim our homes from the stranglehold of the real estate industry,” she said when she founded the bloc earlier this year.

They define theft as “reclaiming,” but it won’t be for the benefit of the middle class.

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Bernie Sanders Wants To Pause New Data Centers To Stop the Economy From Growing Too Much

The United States is leading a global data center boom. Investors are plowing some $7 trillion into the infrastructure necessary to support AI development, with 40 percent of that investment happening here in the United States.

This boom in data center investment is so pronounced that many analysts argue it’s propping up an economy that’d otherwise be wobbling under the strain of tariffs and high borrowing costs.

Some skeptics credibly argue that the money flowing into AI research and the physical infrastructure needed to support it is a bubble that will eventually pop.

Unconvinced by the skeptics is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), who seems to believe that data center investment will generate large profits, produce technological innovations, and drive economy-wide productivity growth.

Therefore, he wants to shut it down.

In a video posted to Instagram, the socialist senator called for a federal moratorium on data center construction until our politicians can figure out just what the hell is going on.

According to Sanders, the development of artificial intelligence and robotics technologies powered by data centers “is moving very, very quickly, and we need to slow it down.”

He warns that the current boom, if left unchecked, could well end up enriching already wealthy billionaires investing in the technology, leading to job automation and powering a distracting and alienating technology.

A “moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up with the transformative changes that we are witnessing and make sure the benefits of these technologies work for all of us,” Sanders concludes.

Given general bipartisan support for “winning the AI race” and the amount of growth being generated by data center investment, it’s unlikely that any such moratorium will come to pass.

The fact Sanders is proposing it anyway is reflects just how much anxiety he and other members of the socialist left feel whenever capitalism is working.

Whether it’s driverless cars or choices in deodorant brands, Sanders cannot stop worrying and learn to love it when capitalists make productive investments and give consumers what they want.

Any economic growth that is not planned by the bureaucrats and approved by the electorate is inherently suspicious and perhaps downright malicious.

Sanders’ call for a data center moratorium is to prevent investment in this infrastructure from yielding productive fruit.

He’s worried that investors will reap profits from data center construction. Those same profits would be a signal that their investments were a prudent use of capital that’s driving real growth in the economy.

Likewise, the job automation Sanders worries about would be another sign that data center investments were well-placed. A primary purpose of capital investment and technological innovation is to shift more labor off the backs of human beings and onto machines.

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NYC’s Radical Socialist Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Posts Video Coaching Illegals on How to Evade ICE – Urges People to ‘Stand Up’ to Feds

New York City’s incoming mayor, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, released a video on X Sunday morning offering step-by-step advice to illegal immigrants on thwarting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Standing in front of a flip chart labeled “Know your rights,” Mamdani positioned himself as the defender of NYC’s “more than 3 million immigrants,” vowing to protect them from federal raids amid President Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.

The video comes on the heels of a disrupted ICE raid in Chinatown last weekend, where nearly 200 protesters blocked agents from leaving a parking garage.

“Last weekend, ICE attempted to raid Canal Street and detain our immigrant neighbors,” Mamdani said in the video posted to X on Sunday. “As mayor, I’ll protect the rights of every single New Yorker. And that includes the more than 3 million immigrants who call this city their home.”

Mamdani continued, “But we can all stand up to ICE if you know your rights.”

“ICE cannot enter into private spaces like your home, school, or private area of your workplace without a judicial warrant signed by a judge,” Mamdani said.

“You have the right to say, ‘I do not consent to entry,’ and the right to keep your door closed,” he continued.

Mamdani showed an example of ICE paperwork that may be mistaken for a warrant.

“ICE is legally allowed to lie to you. But you have the right to remain silent. If you are being detained, you may always ask, ‘Am I free to go?’ repeatedly until they answer you,” Mamdani continued.

“You are legally allowed to film ICE, as long as you do not interfere with an arrest,” he stated.

Mamdani also not-so-subtly urged people to protest.

“New Yorkers have a constitutional right to protest, and when I’m mayor, we will protect that right,” Mamdani said.

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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Links to Pakistani Marxist, Islamist, and CCP-Aligned Networks

Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race was driven by a coordinated South Asian political machine with extensive links to Pakistani Marxist organizations, Islamist-aligned extremist networks, CCP-funded activist structures, and foreign influence operations that collectively shaped the election’s outcome.

The central engine of this operation was Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and its political arm, DRUM Beats, two entities sharing the same address, leadership, and personnel, and which received roughly $20,000 from Mamdani’s campaign.

Behind DRUM’s organizing stood a tightly woven network of activists tied to Pakistan’s Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP), a radical socialist movement founded by Cambridge-educated historian Ammar Ali Jan and veteran leftist Farooq Tariq. The party is formally registered with Pakistan’s Election Commission and seeks to unify workers, peasants, students, and ethnic minorities under a socialist revolutionary program. HKP operates within the same global far-left ecosystem as The People’s Forum, the Tricontinental Institute, and other institutions funded by China-linked billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

Jan himself is a council member of the Progressive International, participates in programs with CCP-aligned groups, and maintains visible ties to U.S. activist institutions in Singham’s network.

HKP’s leadership worked directly with U.S.-based activists involved in Mamdani’s campaign. In January 2023, Ammar Ali Jan announced plans to build a “solidarity network for Pakistani activists in the U.S.” and identified three DRUM organizers, Raza Gillani, Mohiba Ahmed, and Zahid Ali, as key members. All three played active roles in DRUM’s pro-Mamdani efforts. Gillani, a Pakistani journalist and HKP co-founder, joined DRUM as a communications specialist and led campaign rallies with Mamdani standing behind him.

Mohiba Ahmed, an NYU graduate student and longtime HKP member, worked full time on the primary before returning to Pakistan to speak at HKP rallies. Zahid Ali, an HKP founding member and Rice University doctoral student, was praised by Jan as a “struggle partner” who helped secure Mamdani’s win. DRUM executive director Fahd Ahmed publicly highlighted his meetings with Jan, Gillani, and Ahmed, calling their exchanges “encouraging and impressive.”

DRUM’s director of organizing, Kazi Fouzia, oversaw the ground mobilization across immigrant neighborhoods. A Bangladeshi immigrant who entered the U.S. undocumented and later received asylum through a State Department exchange program, Fouzia described DRUM’s influence bluntly: “We’re like a gang. When we go to any shop, people move aside and say, ‘Oh my God. The DRUM leaders are here.’” Her dual role raises legal questions, as 501(c)(3) nonprofits like DRUM are barred from political campaigning, yet she publicly identifies herself as DRUM’s organizing director while directing political mobilization for Mamdani.

These networks did not operate alone. DRUM and DRUM Beats co-hosted events with The People’s Forum, a militant Marxist organization in New York that received more than $20 million from Neville Roy Singham between 2017 and 2022 through shell companies and donor-advised funds.

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Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump Prove That There Are Two Paths Toward Socialism

About five years ago, the comedian Ryan Long posted a video in which a woke progressive and an old-fashioned racist meet and, much to their astonishment, discover that rather than being bitterly opposed, they agree on pretty much everything.

There was a strong echo of that convergence in last week’s White House tete-a-tete between Republican President Donald Trump and New York’s new socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Anticipated to be a grudge match, it instead turned into something of a lovefest. Well, of course it did. As fans of horseshoe theory accurately point out, control freaks from the political extremes might differ on details, but they have more in common with each other than they do with people who respect each other’s liberty.

Trump and Mamdani in ‘a Place of Shared Admiration and Love’

In reporting on the meeting, The Hill noted, “Trump and Mamdani answered questions from reporters, both striking a remarkably cordial tone, with the president indicating he agreed with many of the mayor-elect’s ideas.”

According to Mamdani, “It was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love.”

Trump added that Mamdani would be “hopefully a really great mayor.” He also commented, “There’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything.”

So, how did two politicians who entered the meeting slinging epithets at each other like “communist” and “fascist” exit with the makings of a mutual admiration society? There’s a hint in a question a BBC reporter posed to the new mayor at the White House when he commented “you’re both populist” and asked, “to what extent the president’s campaign…inspired any part of your campaign?”

Mamdani eagerly brought up cost-of-living and economic concerns while Trump nodded and then chimed in with agreement about concerns over the price of energy.

That’s the key to this meeting of the minds. Trump and Mamdani are strongly focused on economic issues. They also share a taste for addressing those concerns with government direction.

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Young People Yearning for Socialism and AI Governance Is a Dangerous Proposition

Socialism has failed every time it has been tried because it is impossible for a group of people to implement a centralized governing apparatus capable of effectively organizing society. 

Heretofore, most people have resented and rejected the yoke of socialism, sometimes after long struggles, because collectivism is also antithetical to individual autonomy, free will, human nature, and the pursuit of happiness.

This is not the case in the United States. Today, more than 30 years after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, young Americans want socialism. 

According to new polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports and The Heartland Institute, which included 1,496 likely voters aged 18 to 39, more than half of young Americans want a democratic socialist to win the White House in 2028.

Likewise, more than half of those polled have a favorable impression of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and nearly 60 percent support socialist policies like a nationwide rent freeze and government-run grocery stores in every town.

There are many reasons why socialism appeals to young Americans. 

First and foremost, young people are not being taught about the dark history of socialism. Second, they are misled into believing that socialism is superior to free-market capitalism. Third, they are brainwashed into believing that collectivism is more righteous, fair, and just than personal freedom. Fourth, they feel that the American dream is dead and socialism is the solution to the cost-of-living crisis they face.

Nearly three-in-four young likely voters think the cost of housing is at a crisis level, and only 22 percent think they will be better off than their parents. 

At this point in time, given the economic headwinds they face, coupled with their ignorance of socialism, it makes sense that an alarming portion of young Americans want socialism.

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Zohran Mamdani Has No Idea How He’s Going to Fund ‘Free’ Buses in New York City 

Zohran Mamdani, the new Democratic Socialist (communist) mayor-elect of New York City clearly has no idea how he is going to pay for all of the supposedly ‘free’ buses he has promised to voters.

He was recently pressed on this issue by a reporter, and when he could not answer the funding question, he simply said that it’s more important that they get it done, not how they fund it.

That’s not how things work in reality.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

MAMDANI: Well, I think the mayor will find that he’ll have a tough time trying to stymie the momentum that we have as a campaign and as a movement, because more than a million New Yorkers came out to vote for our vision of making the city more affordable. I know that’s difficult for the mayor because he ran an administration where, for four years, he made it more difficult for those New Yorkers to afford this city.

And even one of the people he floated appointing to the Rent Guidelines Board is a star of a show that I think is called Selling New York, which in some ways is a description of what Eric Adams tried to do.

MANNARINO: But if he does it, does that put a foil — or at least a pause — on freezing the rent?

MAMDANI: I think it’s an obstacle, but it’s one that I think we can overcome.

MANNARINO: And the other one — talking about fast and free buses, and your meeting with the governor. I’ve heard you say many times that you don’t want to take money away from the MTA — you want to put money back in. And it’s something she agrees with, right? “We don’t want to take away money from the MTA.”

How are you getting that $700 million to make the buses free into the MTA if she’s not for raising taxes?

MAMDANI: You know, I think the two clearest ways to raise that money is through raising the state’s corporate tax to match New Jersey. A lot of this is still a case to be made — whether it’s the corporate tax or the personal income tax on those who make more than a million dollars a year. I think these are the clearest ways.

I’ve also said that if there are other ways to raise this funding, the most important fact is that we fund it — not the question of how we do it, but that we do it.

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Mamdani Under Fire Over Lavish Vacation Just Days After Election

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is under fire after reports surfaced that he jetted off to a lavish political conference in Puerto Rico just days after his election win.

The timing has sparked outrage as the nation faces the longest government shutdown in history.

Critics say Mamdani’s decision reveals where his real priorities lie.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) blasted the socialist mayor-elect for heading to the upscale SOMOS Conference instead of focusing on working families in crisis.

“If Zohran Mamdani is truly serious about helping working families, he wouldn’t be jetting off to a luxury resort the moment he wins an election,” Lawler told Fox News.

Reports from Politico and City & State confirm that Mamdani is set to attend a reception hosted by New York Attorney General Letitia James at the El Caribe Hilton. The beachfront hotel boasts 17 acres of tropical landscaping, nine restaurants, and an oceanfront pool complex.

Fox News said it obtained an invitation proving Mamdani’s attendance at the Thursday night event. The conference schedule includes luncheons and panels with titles like “Celebrating Human Services Together” and “Workforce Development Through Rising Communities.”

The event will wrap up with a “Toes in the Sand Beachfront Party,” according to the program.

Lawler didn’t stop there, suggesting that other top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) might also be attending, per Trending Politics.

“If so, why? Who’s looking out for New Yorkers while they’re on the beach?” Lawler said.

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