Tag Archives: former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

Destroying Equal Opportunity

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On Thursday, The New York Post reported that Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has said that he will phase out the gifted and talented programs in the New York City schools.

The article reports:

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, said Thursday he would eliminate the accelerated learning program at the kindergarten level, something that’s likely to anger parents, who have been passionately divided on the issue.

The gifted classes would remain active through the school year, but would no longer be available next fall, he said.

Critics have attacked the coveted learning model as racist due to the higher number of white and Asian students that gain entry through the exam.

Maybe it’s time to examine the cultural factors behind the fact that white and Asian students do better on the exam. Let’s look at family structure, family discipline, parental involvement in a child’s education, etc. I remember one of my daughter’s classmates in Massachusetts who began preparing for the SAT’s in seventh or eighth grade. I think that’s a bit excessive, but the child did very well.

The article notes:

Danyela Souza, vice president of Community Education Council 2 in Manhattan, and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank who tracks education, flunked the plan, saying it could spark an exodus from the city public school system.

“Mamdani is eliminating opportunities for low and middle income students to access an advanced education,” Souza, a public school parent, told The Post.

The article concludes:

“Parents are going to look to private schools or charter schools as an option or they’re going to move out of the city. You have one chance to educate your child.”

Mamdani’s two general election opponents — independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, also slammed his plan.

“Eliminating opportunities for excellence doesn’t help underserved kids, it perpetuates the problem. It creates a false equality, by eliminating any opportunity to excel,” Cuomo said.

“The Democratic ideal has always been about providing more opportunities for historically marginalized students to access these programs—not eliminating academic excellence altogether.”

Sliwas, during a press event Thursday, said, “I would not only maintain the gifted and talented as I saw up close and personal, I would expand it.”

He noted that Mamdani did “outstandingly well” at Bronx HS of Science, where students need strong scores on a single-test exam to get in.

“So he benefited from all that, but he wants to deprive young children who need advanced courses,” Sliwa said.

Great schools for me, but not for thee.

New York City Has About Seven Weeks To Wake Up

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The mayoral election in New York City will be held on November 4th. If things continue as they are, Zohran Mamdani will be the next Mayor of New York City. I hope New York City residents look at where his campaign money is coming from before they vote.

On Saturday, The New York Post reported:

Deep-pocketed, out-of-state donors account for 78% of the nearly $2.4 million raised by a super PAC backing Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral campaign.

Lefties outside the Empire State wrote fat checks totaling $1,831,706 to the group, New Yorkers for Lower Costs, as of Friday, records showed.

The sum included $762,631 from 26 California donors, with most of it coming from just two people.

“Mamdani’s campaign isn’t about New York City — it’s about fueling a national socialist movement bankrolled by donors in California and beyond … with Hollywood and out-of-state activists trying to dictate the future of our city,” said Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro.

The article includes the following chart:

Why is so much out-of-state money coming into his campaign?

The article notes:

In comparison, a superPAC supporting ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid called “Fix The City” has pulled in more than $20 million – or 74% — of its $27.1 million in donations from New Yorkers.

The “Empower NYC” superPAC supporting Mayor Adams’ re-election bid has seen $1,347,600 – or 92% — of its $1,462,600 donations come from the Big Apple.

Money doesn’t buy elections, but it plays a role. If money bought elections, Hillary Clinton would have been President. I am hoping that the difference in contributions from residents of New York predicts voting totals. However, the contribution numbers show that New Yorkers are split, which may give Mamdani a victory.

New York City’s Future Depends On The Mayoral Election

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On Saturday, Legal Insurrection posted an article about the recent Democrat primary election in New York City. New York City at various times has been a wonderful city to visit. I went to school there back in the age of dinosaurs, and I really enjoyed the art, the museums, the concerts, and the great places to eat. It was a wonderful place in the 1960’s and the late 1990’s. Right now the city is headed in a really scary direction.

New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has won the Democrat primary in the Mayor’s race. He is a socialist calling for a global intifada.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines intifada as follows:

A protracted grassroots campaign of protest and sometimes violent resistance against perceived oppression or military occupation, especially either of two uprisings among Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the first beginning in 1987 and the second in 2000, in protest against Israeli occupation of these territories.

Is that really what New Yorkers want?

The election was held using ranked-choice voting, which may be part of the problem.

The article notes that former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has decided to stay in the race. Eric Adams has also decided to stay in the race. Obviously, both of these men staying in the race will split the opposition against Zohran Mamdani. Curtis Sliwa is running for Mayor on the Republican ticket, but New York City has not had a Republican Mayor since Rudy Giuliani was elected in 1994.

The article at Legal Insurrection concludes:

While it’s hard to predict with any degree of certainty how this ultimately will play out, the first post-mayoral primary poll is out and shows Cuomo and Mamdani both with equal levels of support, and Adams trailing badly:

As speculation swirls over whether former [governor] Cuomo will continue his campaign as an independent after conceding the Democratic primary to Mamdani, a new poll shows the two candidates in a statistical tie heading into November’s general election.

The polling, conducted independently by the Honan Strategy Group 48 hours after Mamdani’s stunning victory, showed both Mamdani and Cuomo garnering 39% support among likely general election voters in a five-way race between them, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, independent candidate Jim Walden and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who trailed at 13%.

…In the scenario that Cuomo does not appear on the ballot, pollsters found that Mamdani would lead Adams by 15 points.

But if Adams were to drop out, Cuomo appears to pick up the support of likely Adams voters and gains a slight edge, leading Mamdani by 4 points — just outside the poll’s margin of error of ±3.4%.

Adams officially kicked off his general election campaign Thursday.

Meanwhile–posted on Facebook by a friend: