Thanks to the election, though it’s now only the 18th, this piece will make 15 columns and 10 Gateways I’ve done since September 1st (though this one is mostly backlog).
I’m exhausted.
Since November is deader that Davis Weprin’s future, I’m hoping to cut back on the Gateway’s, while praying that no one will piss me off enough to write any actual columns.
The High Holidays are coming up and I’m hoping for some time for reflection (Personal to Brad Lander: this would seem an apt time for you to try to schedule breakfast or drinks before my Gates of Repentance close for the year).
Would Grisanti moving to the IDC really amount to a switch of sides in any Senate reorganization? Seems to me, it'd just be Skelos storing a safe vote in a safer place. Redux: Grisanti To The IDC? www.capitaltonight.com
A Trial Balloon was floated to me this week by a guy who bought me some sushi:
Hakeem Jeffries for Mayor
The theory depends on Bill Thompson folding when he learns he's not the only black candidate.
Tentative Verdict: If he's the only black, and he can raise the money (he did work at Paul Weiss) he probably makes the run-off.
Colby Hamilton seems to think that Espinal's 44% showing in a three way race opens him up for a primary in 2012.
Let's forget for the moment that the district will be redrawn for Espinal by friendly hands, and instead note that, in a one on one between two Latinos, the mostly black voters who gave 23% to the third candidate, Deidra Towns (whose dad will likely be busy in 2012), are no less likely (and maybe more so) to vote for Espinal than a challenger, especially since on the hottest local issue (Walmart) their candidate and Espinal had the same position As the dust settles in the 54th Assembly, future plans begin to take shape | The Empire empire.wnyc.org
Unofficial Election Returns: The big news: Boris Pincus proves Sheepshead Bay has more Russians than Sephardim End Game: Your (Unofficial) NYC Election Results! www.nydailynews.com
I hear the Aroni Satmar are looking for a new in-house fixer, so why not Rabbi Hank? Henry can call himself Heshie. Hank Sheinkopf, Rabbi | PolitickerNY www.politickerny.com
The cost of losing the 9th will be likely felt hundreds of miles away. My inclination is to target Hinchey, to teach "progressives" a practical lesson about turning up their noses at Weprin http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110915/NEWS01/109150322/Vote-alters-upstate-district-m www.democratandchronicle.com
News Flash: There are no hard feelings between Crowley and Turner.
Why should there be any hard feelings between Crowley and Turner?
Haven't you heard? Crowley had a good day on Tuesday.
This is not the first time Crowley’s had his head up his ass or the first time he’s shown friendship to a Republican (just the least significant). No Hard Feelings Between Crowley and Turner www.capitaltonight.com
For a compendium of idiocy even greater than Joe Crowley’s, it's hard to beat Shrum, who's still pulling for Liz Holtzman, and clearly hasn't visited the 9th since Dubrow's closed its cafeteria on King's Highway (something he has in common with Liz, who I just say walking her dog on Bond street). The Democrats' self-defeating crybaby chorus – The Week theweek.com
Oh Lord, what will it take to kill the ridiculous idea that nominating Liz "I Blame Israel & the Zionists for the Iraq War" Holtzman would have been the silver bullet (except to facilitate a fatal and self-inflicted wound)? The 'old boys' lose www.nypost.com
Al Sharpton talking about NY-9, subliminally reminds us that in some ways, we can blame Crown Heights (not the first time it has had an impact in these parts). Parsing NY-9 With Al Sharpton On MSNBC www.nydailynews.com
Learn how the "xenophobic messianist" Beit Shammai ambushed the "moderate pragmatist" Beit Hillel, and from that moment until their inevitable self-destruction, dominated rabbinic Jewish life, laying down precedents still followed today.
Update 2011: Beit Shammai sweeps the 9th CD. Tea Party's All-Or-Nothing Tactics Are Path to Nowhere – Forward.com forward.com
I don't mind that Hikind is going to take his indignation on the road–I mind that he's coming back.
I'm sure Shelly could care less about it, as long as Hikind does what he's told on the rare instances he shows his face in Albany.
Still, one has to wonder how the members of the Party conference (no matter how they feel about Weprin) feel about Hikind getting away with dumping a ton of bricks on a fellow Assembly Dem while suffering not any official retribution ("Hey Shelly, if he could do it to the twerp, he could do it to me")Dov Hikind, anti-Obama Democrat, is ready to take his indignation on the road | Capital New York www.capitalnewyork.com
Unsurprisingly, the 25% of Silver's District where hipsters are dominant elects the hipster candidates for District Leaders (the editorial does not note that Silver's choices swept Chinatown, and that Silver's District contains more Chinese than hipsters).
I think Shelly has more to worry about from the Governor than Paul Newell, but if he is really worried, he can always get the LES projects back from Brian Kavanagh, and just dump most of the hipsters and Yuppies on Kavanagh and Glick. Trouble in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's paradise as his hand-picked candidates get whipped www.nydailynews.com
The perils of abandoning incumbency protection are demonstrated by the fact that California will probably lose one of its best and most powerful Democrats: Howard Berman (to another good guy, Brad Sherman).
Irony alert: Israel will lose Berman, its most effective Congressional supporter, in part because Sherman will run to his right on Israel (the Zionist right never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity) Redistricting Tosses Two Jewish Democrats Into Los Angeles Street Fight – Forward.com www.forward.com
Goldberg seems to make the Arab Spring seem quite chilly.
Maybe supporters of Israel should stop whining about how Israel is the “only democracy in the Middle East,” and instead be thankful for that fact. Danger: Falling Tyrants www.theatlantic.com
But isn't the fact that Perry will do the right thing if the bribe is big enough a point in his favor? The Bachmann Chronicles www.nytimes.com
As an advocate of the National Popular Vote (NPV) Compact, this Republican attempt to hijack Pennsylvania’s electoral votes just makes me laugh.
NPV’s opponents have argued that it's wrong to change how we elect out president without amending the constitution, even though Pennsylvania (not the first attempt at this) proves that it is already happening and (as I’ve noted in my link above), it's happened before.
If our way of electing the Prez can change under our feet, state by state, we may as well acknowledge it and at least get the right result. Splitting Pennsylvania? andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com
I know the Cooper Union’s trustees have a fiduciary duty to keep their ship afloat, but they also have a duty to the higher academic purpose of advancing knowledge.
Since Cooper is not hurting financially, it seems time to subject them to utter and complete public humiliation until they agree to a lease that will save St. Marks Books. St. Mark's Bookshop in danger of closing, customers target ire at Cooper Union landlord www.nydailynews.com