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It’s Thursday, September 4. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Gazans against Al Jazeera. Inside the phenomenon of “dropout graduations.” And remembering basketball legend George Raveling.
But first: Mamdani’s policies and their consequences.
Until yesterday, Zohran Mamdani seemed all but assured of becoming the next mayor of New York City. The far-left state legislator won the Democratic nomination in June in an upset against former governor Andrew Cuomo, and has since then maintained a double-digit lead against a crowd of general election opponents including Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and incumbent mayor Eric Adams.
Then came the (possible) plot twist: rumors that Adams could leave the race and take a job in the Trump administration with just two months to go before election day. So is the incumbent really quitting? That’s the subject of Olivia Reingold’s latest report. Read it here:
For now, however, Mamdani remains in the catbird seat. He’s been winning more endorsements from local officials, including former mayor Bill de Blasio’s earlier this week. And he remains a charismatic figure with a devoted base of support. But it’s a lot easier to run for the city’s top job than it is to run the city itself.
Being mayor is mostly about the unglamorous work of ensuring the trains and buses stay moving, overseeing schools and public housing, keeping crime in check, dealing with myriad union bosses, and the many other arduous tasks necessary to keep the nation’s largest city halfway functioning. It’s a very difficult and tedious job, in other words, which is probably why so many New York mayors either give up or go crazy.
So today we’re taking a close look at Mamdani’s policies—and what they would actually mean for the city.
Joel Klein, who ran New York City’s public school system for nearly a decade under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, says that what little Mamdani has said about education is deeply troubling. “Mamdani’s platform is almost certain to hurt the mostly black and Latino kids who live in the city’s poorer communities while driving middle-class and affluent families out of the public school system,” Klein writes.
Next, Judge Glock offers a skeptical view of Mamdani’s plans to freeze rents, which always sounds nice in theory but, Glock argues, has consistently led to municipal catastrophe.
Likewise, Charles Lane takes issue with another signature Mamdani promise—free bus rides—and notes that it’s an idea that’s already been tried and failed. “The Soviet Union used to charge a few kopecks to ride the bus or the subway in Moscow,” Lane writes. “Mamdani’s idea of socialism doesn’t have room for even that much individual responsibility—or realism.”
—Will Rahn
Google office building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Plexi Images / GHI / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)In a landmark antitrust case, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Google will not have to break itself up. As part of the decision, the company will have to share some of its data and search results with rival companies deemed “qualified competitors,” but will not have to divest Google Chrome or any of its other signature products.
The Chinese government put on a massive military parade Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. The showcase of arms comes days after President Xi Jinping met with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “The Chinese people are. . . not afraid of violence and are self-reliant and strong,” Xi said.
Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s 32-year-old grandson, says he might run for the Manhattan congressional seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler. Schlossberg, a social-media influencer, told The New York Times that it was “certainly a possibility” he joins what’s becoming a very crowded Democratic primary for the seat.
Eight women who say they were abused by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spoke at a bipartisan press conference hosted by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna on Wednesday, pleading for the Justice Department to release more information related to the disgraced financier. Meanwhile, President Trump maintained that the Epstein issue is a “Democrat hoax that never ends.”
On Tuesday, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an interview that Russian president Vladimir Putin is “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time.” The Kremlin denied all allegations of war crimes, and added that Merz’s opinions don’t matter.
Earlier this year, progressive Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar told Business Insider that she had been victim to a “coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign” alleging that she’s worth millions of dollars. But this week, The Washington Free Beacon reported that she and her husband, Tim Mynett, are worth between $6–$30 million.
For the fourth time in the past week, a grand jury has rejected the Justice Department’s request to pursue an indictment. Tuesday’s case involved a suspect accused of posting an Instagram threat against President Trump. “It is exceptionally rare for federal grand juries to reject proposed charges, given the low evidentiary bar for indictment and the Justice Department’s policy of pursuing cases only when there is sufficient evidence to both secure and sustain a conviction,” one former prosecutor told CBS News.
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By Bari WeissIt’s Thursday, September 4. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Gazans against Al Jazeera. Inside the phenomenon of “dropout graduations.” And remembering basketball legend George Raveling.
But first: Mamdani’s policies and their consequences.
Until yesterday, Zohran Mamdani seemed all but assured of becoming the next mayor of New York City. The far-left state legislator won the Democratic nomination in June in an upset against former governor Andrew Cuomo, and has since then maintained a double-digit lead against a crowd of general election opponents including Cuomo, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and incumbent mayor Eric Adams.
Then came the (possible) plot twist: rumors that Adams could leave the race and take a job in the Trump administration with just two months to go before election day. So is the incumbent really quitting? That’s the subject of Olivia Reingold’s latest report. Read it here:
For now, however, Mamdani remains in the catbird seat. He’s been winning more endorsements from local officials, including former mayor Bill de Blasio’s earlier this week. And he remains a charismatic figure with a devoted base of support. But it’s a lot easier to run for the city’s top job than it is to run the city itself.
Being mayor is mostly about the unglamorous work of ensuring the trains and buses stay moving, overseeing schools and public housing, keeping crime in check, dealing with myriad union bosses, and the many other arduous tasks necessary to keep the nation’s largest city halfway functioning. It’s a very difficult and tedious job, in other words, which is probably why so many New York mayors either give up or go crazy.
So today we’re taking a close look at Mamdani’s policies—and what they would actually mean for the city.
Joel Klein, who ran New York City’s public school system for nearly a decade under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, says that what little Mamdani has said about education is deeply troubling. “Mamdani’s platform is almost certain to hurt the mostly black and Latino kids who live in the city’s poorer communities while driving middle-class and affluent families out of the public school system,” Klein writes.
Next, Judge Glock offers a skeptical view of Mamdani’s plans to freeze rents, which always sounds nice in theory but, Glock argues, has consistently led to municipal catastrophe.
Likewise, Charles Lane takes issue with another signature Mamdani promise—free bus rides—and notes that it’s an idea that’s already been tried and failed. “The Soviet Union used to charge a few kopecks to ride the bus or the subway in Moscow,” Lane writes. “Mamdani’s idea of socialism doesn’t have room for even that much individual responsibility—or realism.”
—Will Rahn
Google office building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Plexi Images / GHI / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)In a landmark antitrust case, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Google will not have to break itself up. As part of the decision, the company will have to share some of its data and search results with rival companies deemed “qualified competitors,” but will not have to divest Google Chrome or any of its other signature products.
The Chinese government put on a massive military parade Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. The showcase of arms comes days after President Xi Jinping met with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. “The Chinese people are. . . not afraid of violence and are self-reliant and strong,” Xi said.
Jack Schlossberg, President John F. Kennedy’s 32-year-old grandson, says he might run for the Manhattan congressional seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler. Schlossberg, a social-media influencer, told The New York Times that it was “certainly a possibility” he joins what’s becoming a very crowded Democratic primary for the seat.
Eight women who say they were abused by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein spoke at a bipartisan press conference hosted by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna on Wednesday, pleading for the Justice Department to release more information related to the disgraced financier. Meanwhile, President Trump maintained that the Epstein issue is a “Democrat hoax that never ends.”
On Tuesday, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an interview that Russian president Vladimir Putin is “perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time.” The Kremlin denied all allegations of war crimes, and added that Merz’s opinions don’t matter.
Earlier this year, progressive Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar told Business Insider that she had been victim to a “coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign” alleging that she’s worth millions of dollars. But this week, The Washington Free Beacon reported that she and her husband, Tim Mynett, are worth between $6–$30 million.
For the fourth time in the past week, a grand jury has rejected the Justice Department’s request to pursue an indictment. Tuesday’s case involved a suspect accused of posting an Instagram threat against President Trump. “It is exceptionally rare for federal grand juries to reject proposed charges, given the low evidentiary bar for indictment and the Justice Department’s policy of pursuing cases only when there is sufficient evidence to both secure and sustain a conviction,” one former prosecutor told CBS News.