(I’d throw in something about Jeremy Epstein but I’m saving that for a bigger post).
It appears China wants Eric Adams to stay mayor of New York. Why? To quash dissent among the 600,000 Chinese-Americans in NYC and because “Beijing is also making a longer bet, she said: You never know which politician might eventually run for Congress at the national level, or become a presidential candidate.'”
Oh, side note, saying that giving reporters envelopes stuffed with cash is a “bold departure from political norms” seems very … euphemistic. Which seems to be NYT style these days. Mamdani responded better: “it is the despair and the disaffection that New Yorkers hold for politics that I am running against. And it is one that I do not blame them for, because if you were to see this each and every day, why would you believe in the promise of local government?”
J.D. Vance complaints, as so many people do with immigrants, that Mamdani should be more grateful to America instead of “attacking the U.S. for all of its problems.” Of course Vance might be grateful for living in a country that allowed him to rise from a struggling, dysfunctional family to vice president but he loves complaining about America’s problems with single women, immigrants, etc. Somehow that never applies to white guys.
Shifting from Mamdani, right-wing evangelical creep James Dobson died last month. As Mark Twain says, I’ve never wished a man dead but there are obituaries I’ve read with great pleasure. This was one of them. This is a man who supported the right of men to beat their wives — and suggests some women provoke their husbands because they know the men will be wracked by guilt (no, they won’t). He supported Roy Moore’s senate campaign, declaring Moore, the man who liked to lech on teenage girls when he was in his thirties, was a man of character. Which is true, but not the kind of character that deserves public office.
“James Dobson was a nasty dude. He liked to beat children and dogs with a belt and to rain misery and punishment on the vulnerable; we know all of this about him because he said as much in public, repeatedly, over a long and rancid public life.”
And one more: “You get one shot to treat your children with autonomy and dignity, and to model for them the kindness and love the world needs. No one is going to be a perfect parent, but treating your children like little soldiers you can train to fight in your culture war comes at a high price.”
