Old Socialist comments.

stephenkmacksd.com/

Jul 17, 2025

Editor: Friedman lectures Mamdani as if the Gaza Genocide were in a rear view mirror, of History. No surprise Friedman’s vacuous chatter is about feckless political conformity, practised over time, in The Paper Of Record!

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First, if you are discussing a mantra — like “globalize the intifada” — that takes 15 minutes to explain why it doesn’t mean what it obviously means, I’d suggest that you distance yourself further from that mantra.

May I offer an alternative? “Two states for two peoples.” It works really well with drums — “Two states, for two peoples.”

While that solution may be a long shot, it has the virtue of being the only viable, just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — one that many Americans still support, and one, if this Gaza war ever ends, I believe many Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims and Jews in New York City will as well. There is no other viable alternative. There is no one-state solution; there is no three-state solution. The only alternative to “two states for two peoples” is, in my opinion, no states for two peoples — just a grinding forever war between two peoples living intertwined with each other.

Second, the world does not need the mayor of New York City to be another commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The world is awash with commentators on this issue. We don’t need any more. We need leaders ready to be conveners of those looking for the only just solution.

Tell voters more about how you will use your office to bring together Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and Jews who aspire to build two states for two peoples.

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Editor: Bret Stephens essay is awash in ‘Left Bad Actors’ :

Two groups must be especially thrilled by the prospect of Zohran Mamdani becoming New York’s next mayor.

The first: young, progressive-leaning voters who gave the charismatic 33-year-old State Assembly member his come-out-of-nowhere victory in last month’s Democratic primary. They want what he wants: rent freezes, free public buses, city-owned grocery stores, tax hikes for corporations and millionaires, curbs on the police, a near doubling of the minimum wage to $30 an hour and the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu.

The second: Republicans who want to make sure that Democrats remain the perfect opposition party — far-left, incompetent, divided, distrusted and, on a national level, unelectable. Remember when Ronald Reagan ran against the “San Francisco Democrats” in 1984 and carried 49 states? Get ready for the G.O.P. to run against “Mamdani Democrats” for several election cycles to come.

That’s a thought that ought to give moderate Democrats pause before they accept Mamdani’s mayoralty as a political fait accompli, or even think of getting behind him. Among the reasons the Democratic Party’s brand has become toxic in recent years is progressive misgovernance in places like Los Angeles; San Francisco; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; and Chicago. If Mamdani governs on the promises on which he’s campaigned, he’ll bring the same toxicity to America’s biggest city.

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Editor: Stephens final quote is from Karl Marx:

Marxists often counsel: “Sharpen the contradictions.” With Mamdani as mayor, it would be Trump who’d be doing the sharpening.

Old Socialist