Mamdani’s upset should come as no big surprise
Kew Gardens: Zohran Mamdani is the overwhelming story of the day. However, his trouncing of Andrew Cuomo is no surprise. People have long memories, especially those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. This was his last hurrah, and he’d be foolish not to see it. NYC is now up for grabs. People have exhibited a disgust with politics as usual. Along comes Mamdani, a virtual unknown, promising the moon and the stars, and the people have responded to him like the legendary Pied Piper. His appeal is to the radical left and a vulnerable, changing demographic constituency. Come November, we can expect Mayor Adams on the Independent line because he was too weak to run as a Democrat, which is indicative of how New Yorkers view him. And last, we have a comic book figure in a red beret as another choice. I think I’ll stay home. Phil Serpico
Surging socialism
Valhalla, N.Y.: Incredulous that NYC would vote for Mamdani! Bad enough he’s a Democrat, who have proven that their philosophies don’t work in NYC, but he’s also a socialist! I don’t know if one socialist could completely ruin NYC but I’m sure he would give it a good run! He was also backed by AOC and Bernie Sanders, both socialists! Cuomo is somewhat questionable also. I’d almost want Adams with his criminal cronies to win again! What a mess, NYC! Maybe it’s time for a (gasp) Republican to take over NYC! Michael Grisanti
Senile support
Queens Village: Bill Clinton endorsed Cuomo by saying we need him because “the city is in crisis.” This is so silly. Who was running this city for years, putting the city in crisis? The Democrats were running it — all the people Clinton previously endorsed. Frank Barnett
Uninterested parties
Manhattan: Hopefully, the nonstop TV ads, emails, texts and regular-mail flyers will stop. This for a primary that, if you are an Independent or have no party connections, you couldn’t even vote in. Just another reason why people are fed up with politicians’ B.S. Joseph Duffy
Won’t miss that
Park Ridge, N.J.: The best part about the N.Y. primaries coming to an end is we won’t have to listen to Scott Stringer calling Trump a “schmuck” in his whiny political commercials anymore. Steve Ostlund
Electrical load
Brooklyn: The candidates for mayor all talked about building more housing throughout the five boroughs. That would mean more apartment buildings. Every summer, Con Ed has trouble meeting the demand for electricity. How would they be able to handle a much greater demand by adding thousands of new apartments? Shouldn’t they fix Con Ed before they attempt this? Andrea Allen
Cover the Capitol
Manhattan: Does the Daily News have a reporter in Albany? I didn’t notice any stories on the Senate or Assembly end-of-sessions. No coverage of how Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie failed to bring the significant Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act to a vote, particularly since there were several reports (by your competitors) on the heavy-handed actions of corporate lobbyists and the American Chemistry Council to fight the bill? No real environmental progress was made this session, unless you want to count the compromised NY HEAT Act. The News needs to spend a little less time covering every crime in the subway and on roadways and more time in Albany. Eileen Leonard
Blocked bills
Brooklyn: It turns out that our state Assembly is not a democracy. Sure, we elect our Assembly members. But once in Albany, they operate according to the dictates of Heastie. Only if he allows a bill on the floor will members be allowed to vote on it. Two particularly important bills — the compromise NY HEAT Act and the PRRI — had the support needed to pass this session. Both would have saved New Yorkers significant amounts of money, improved New Yorkers’ health and been models for other states. Heastie did allow the passage of a law forbidding natural gas utilities from billing customers for new hookups to private developments, but he refused to allow a vote on either NY HEAT or PRRI. Gas utilities were out in force to oppose the NY HEAT Act, and plastic manufacturers poured money into blocking PRRI. Draw your own conclusions. Mine is to replace Heastie. Sophie Dalsimer
Radical regime
Howard Beach: Everybody would like to believe that the U.S. attack/war against Iran is “one and done.” Has one-and-done ever won? Without regime change, Iran will start work again. As long as two stones are standing in that country, there will be no peace. Its leadership would be happy to martyr themselves using nukes as long as they take the West with them. North Korea isn’t that crazy yet. They want to live. So do we. That’s why Iran must go. Ernest Kienzle
Deal-breaker
Manhattan: How was The News able to editorialize on Trump’s undeclared war on Iran (“Division at the water’s edge,” editorial, June 23) without mentioning the Barack Obama deal Trump tore up? Ten years ago, Obama signed an agreement that stopped cold any Iranian efforts to build a nuclear bomb. The deal worked perfectly. Iran’s nuclear program was non-weaponized and carefully monitored. It worked like a charm until Trump took office. He tore up the deal and set the stage for where we are now. Trump caused this problem and he just made the world a more dangerous place. Trump tears things apart and then steps in to fix them in order to become a God in his cultists’ eyes. He will not be able to fix this new mess. What will it take for his cultists to turn on him? Steven Davies
Lesser branches
Manhattan: Trump has chutzpah, and that is not necessarily a bad attribute for a U.S. president to have. But the United States of America is a democracy, designed (with good reason) to have checks and balances on executive power. What has happened to the gumption of U.S. senators, representatives and the judiciary? Did their wherewithal go on the lam? Susan A. Stark
One-way litigation
Rochelle Park, N.J.: Donald J. Frump is once again doing his favorite hobby! Suing companies and threatening others with the same. For his crybaby attack on CBS and all news stations not named Fox. If Frump can make a car dealership out of the White House lawn and not give all other car manufacturers the same ample time to display their cars, then why can’t they file a $60 million lawsuit against Frump for the same gimmicky grifter tricks he’s pulled off most of his life? What’s good for one should be good for all! But we all know America is not created equal! B. Boyle
Rotten takes
Valley Stream, L.I.: Back when he was covering the Brooklyn Nets, columnist Kristian Winfield defended Kyrie Irving to such a ridiculous extent that I felt he must have a second job working as a press agent for Irving. He defended every terrible action of that cancerous player for his entire tenure with the Nets. Now that he’s covering the Knicks, he seems to be the only columnist or sportscaster on Earth who thinks the Knicks handled the firing of their coach and the subsequent search with anything resembling competence. The man is not a bad writer, but as far as his opinions go, he really needs to rejoin planet Earth. James Dolan must love him, and it goes without saying that that is not a good thing. Allan Canino
Earned his place
Hoboken: To Voicer Bill Barrett: Aaron Boone not playing small ball is more of an organizational policy made by analytics people who never played the game. You may call him all the names you called him, but he’s smart enough to last eight years now as manager of the New York freakin’ Yankees. What’s your claim to brilliance? Joe Ewansky
