I watched New York’s mayor-elect charm the city’s youth by offering what his more established rivals could not: hope


https://observer.co.uk/news/international/article/how-zohran-mamdan...


After a brief statement about his love of soccer and his happiness to be there, Mamdani opened up for questions, gesturing to a journalist before me. “Oh, I, I’m not ready,” she laughed, a little flustered. “You should ask somebody else”. There but for the grace of God go I, I thought, but before I could make my own charmed misstep, he was being swept away to take photographs with the soccer players. His staff yelled at us to step back, but forward we inexorably went, dozens of us crowding him and jostling each other until, finally, the announcer ordered us all off the pitch. Security was tight; fans in the stadium were unable to get down where Mamdani had posted up against the barriers, and a crowd of 10-year-old boys from a Ditmas Park sports club were nimbly jumping around in their seats with excitement. “Low-key, can we please get on the pitch?” one of them asked me.





All around Mamdani was an aura of giddiness; teenagers bursting into nervous laughter when he shook their hands, a player in the winning football team shouting at his friends to ask: “Was Zohran watching our game? Did he see?” Back in the summer, Mamdani had been responsible for another moment of communal euphoria when he organised a city-wide treasure hunt that thousands of New Yorkers participated in. Derided as an example of his insubstantiality by detractors, it seemed to others a neat example of what was working: a politics of abundance, of pleasure and joy, instead of fear and threat. Cuomo’s campaign, like that of the city’s incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, was largely predicated on presenting New York as a perpetually dystopian hellhole – one that will descend into true anarchy if a socialist is put in charge. Fear may be an effective political weapon, but it is also a wearying one. “We have spent too long trying not to lose,” Mamdani said in an October rally speech. “Now it is time to win!”

When I spoke with a fellow novelist friend about his campaign, we acknowledged the inevitable failure of achieving all his proposed policies. But we likened his process to that of any creative act; there is an ideal in your mind at the beginning, and though it never turns out as you first imagined, if the ideal was a good and true one, you end up making something worthwhile in the act of trying, even if it is quite different from what began the conception.

My friend Claudia, a campaign volunteer, wrote on X in June, “among its many merits, Zohran’s campaign is the campaign of true joy – anchored to it, steeped in it, generating more of it – not to obscure weak points or trick people but because that is just what truly fighting for others does, immutably”. In another post, Claudia thanks the campaign for making accommodations so that she could safely volunteer for it.

Claudia lost her partner, Ryan Carson, in a horrific random act of violence on the street in Brooklyn two years ago. Carson was murdered by a teenager while he and Claudia waited for a bus home after attending a wedding. Her nightmare did not begin or end with that unthinkable event, which continues to be relentlessly exploited by online trolls and far-right tormentors. Because Claudia and Ryan were leftist members of Democratic Socialists of America, the most sordid corners of the internet taunt her that she and Ryan deserved what took place; they lie that she refused to cooperate with the police and accuse her of any number of fictional sins, in between calling for her death.

Two Pakistanis Elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor in US

https://propakistani.pk/2026/01/07/two-pakistanis-elected-mayor-and...

Sumbul Siddiqui, a lawyer originally from Karachi, has been elected mayor of Cambridge by the City Council for the 2026–27 term. This marks her third tenure as mayor, and she remains the first Muslim and Asian woman to hold the office.

Burhan Azim, an MIT-trained engineer from Burewala, has been elected deputy mayor, becoming the youngest city councillor in Cambridge’s history.

Siddiqui was first elected to the Cambridge City Council in 2017 and served two mayoral terms between 2020 and 2024, establishing herself as a prominent figure in local politics.

Their election is being seen as a milestone for diversity and representation in US local governance.

Chris Menahan 🇺🇸
@infolibnews
Israeli-American Council to billionaire Haim Saban: How do you buy and exercise influence over politicians in the US?

Saban: "I wanna be cautious…We just play within the system…Those who give more have more access, and those who give less have less access—it's simple math."

https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2012732736193151356?s=20

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Suppressed News.
@SuppressedNws1
🇺🇸🇮🇱They aren’t even trying to hide it!

IAC to Zionist billionaire Miriam Adelson: How do you buy and exercise influence over politicians in the U.S?

Adelson: "Can you allow me not to answer? ... I want to be truthful and there are so many things I don't want to talk about."

Clip:
@infolibnews

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Ryan Rozbiani
@RyanRozbiani
Billionaires at the Israeli-American Council talk about how they Buy U.S. Politicians and Influence Them to help Israel

Billionaire Miriam Adelson
- $5 Million to AIPAC (2024)
- $100 Million to Trump via Preserve America PAC (2024)
- $4.9 Million to Friends of the IDF (2021)

Billionaire Haim Saban
- $1 Million to AIPAC via United Democracy Project (2023)
- $10 Million to Friends of the IDF (2021)
- $30 Million raised for Friends of the IDF

https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2012749837775626339?s=20